IDWT: Riders of Berk
by Zenmaster21
Summary: The continuation of my story In Dragons We Trust, following the events of Riders of Berk. Reading In Dragons We Trust first is recommended. Follow the Berk teens on their continued adventures and discoveries. Narrated by both Astrid and Hiccup. Rating is due to swearing, violence, and blood, all mild. Cover image provided by xxXMidnight BlazeXxx. Updated irregularly.
1. How To Start a Dragon Training Academy

**NOTES (PLEASE READ) **

**1)**_ Okay, so first of all, I'd like to point out that BOTH Hiccup and Astrid will be narrating the series, so please read the author's notes as I will be placing who is narrating the episode at the beginning of each chapter. It's a transition, I suppose you could call it; Astrid narrates the first movie, both Hiccup and Astrid narrate the series, and Hiccup is going to narrate the second movie whenever I get around to writing it. Yes, to those who have been asking about the second movie, I am going to write it :)_

**2)**_ It took a long time to get this up because I had been debating on something; at first, I wanted to incorporate some characters from the book into the series, but, after giving it a LOT of thought, I realized that, while I MIGHT be interested in reading something like that, it would be something I would have zero interest in writing. See, it has to do with my stance on OCs; I don't like lots of OCs in the fics I read, and I always, ALWAYS walk away from fics with OCs in them. Even in canon (you will think I'm totally weird for this), I'm not a huge fan of characters like Heather, who kind of just get dropped in as plot devices and feel like mary-sues; which, if you're not in on the whole writing circle, is basically just a flat character without much development (for example, Bella Swan *shudder*). So, adding in the characters from the book, who have zero part in the movieverse, won't be something I'm too interested in. In fact, there's only, like, two fics, plus a sequel, that I like with characters from the book in them, and that's only due to awesome writing skills and a compelling story, so... if it weren't for that, I probably wouldn't like those fics much, either. So, sorry to disappoint anybody I had told the idea to, but the characters from the books will not be making any appearances (I'm leaving this note, as I did tell a couple people about this idea after asking me about my plans for the series).  
_

**3)** _As in the first story, I will be attempting to integrate actual Viking culture into this story, mostly for fun. I may change up a few things, as the httyd universe is very LOOSELY based on actual Viking culture, meaning I may add in my own traditions or slightly change an actual tradition and so on. As with last time, the words will be in italics, so please try not to get those confused with words that are italicized simply for exaggeration._

**4) **_One of the major things that bugged me about the httyd series was the total sucker punch the writers did to the realistic healing process of an amputation. I mean, Hiccup was only asleep for three weeks (four in my verse), after losing a freaking leg, and he's like, "Oh, okay, it's fine, let's go flying." Dude, my aunt's an amputee; that's not how it works. So, I'm going to try and put in some realism into his leg in this story; for example, his leg isn't going to be entirely healed, and, in my head, the only reason he went flying at the end of the movie was because he forgot about his pain in all the excitement, but it DOES return to him by the time his flight with the others is over, so... yeah, I'm going to try and put a little bit of focus on his leg in a more realistic light._

**5)** _I am going to be incorporating some aspects from the second movie into the series. If you haven't seen the movie, don't worry about spoilers as it's nothing major. Just some small things, like Stoick and Gobber's dragons, Hiccup's sword, Hiccup making some additions to Toothless' saddle until it becomes something a little similar to the saddle seen in the second movie, and so on._

**6)** _The episodes are not always going to be in chronological order, especially the stand alone episodes, but they will be in an order that makes sense, as some episodes already have things established, while others don't, so... yeah, just leaving that warning in case anybody gets confused on the order of my chapters. The first three ARE going to be in order, as they are mainly focused on the beginnings on incorporating the dragons into Berk's society._

**7)**_ Some episodes may very well be simply switching the characters names until the plot begins to movie along a bit more, so please be patient with that. I will also be adding in my own little scenes, as the total lack of development between Hiccup and Astrid's relationship totally bugged the crap out of me, so that might help with any annoyance you may feel with the simple name switching._

**8) **_I've gotten a lot of confused PMs asking me who the "Dragon Conqueror" is going to be. Well, when you conquer something, you defeat it, you obtain power over it; so, TECHNICALLY speaking, Hiccup would still be the Dragon Conqueror, as he is the one who defeated the Red Death. So, Hiccup would be the Dragon Conqueror, and Astrid would be the Dragon Tamer; Hiccup would be the Dragon Rider, and Astrid would be the Dragon Trainer. I hope that makes sense and clears up any confusion :)_

**9) **_I've also gotten PMs asking me about Hiccup and Astrid's interest in dragons, and many have pointed out how my Hiccup had always sneaked off into the forest to watch the dragons, long before the war ended. So, the Hiccup in my verse, like his canon counterpart, both have a very intense interest in dragons; he wants to know EVERYTHING about them, no matter how small the detail. Astrid is more interested in training them and helping them co-exist with humans. _

**10)**_ Another thing that kind of, sorta bugged me was how dumbed down the twins were; sure, they were a bit dimwitted in the movie, but they were not THAT bad. If anything, from what I gathered from watching the movies, Tuffnut was the dumb one, not Ruffnut, but he still had his moments, and you could see that much more clearly in the second movie. So, I'm going to try and keep Ruffnut's smarts and personality, while making Tuffnut the dumb one, but still give him his moments, so some of their antics might be changed up a bit._

**11)**_ I would also like to point out that, after seeing the second movie, I went back over my first story and changed Valka's name back to Valka, instead of Valhallarama. I also changed how Hiccup got that scar on his chin; if you re-read the second chapter, I decided to give him a large scar on his palm instead, and I may make references to it, so... yeah, just wanted to point this out in case anyone gets confused._

**12)**_ I am not going to be writing the full episodes, particularly parts not involving the main characters as those scenes don't really change at all, aside from, maybe, a name. If you haven't watched the series, it shouldn't really matter as the scenes skipped should be very obvious, as they normally involve the villains. I'm not writing the full episodes because that's just too much writing for one chapter seeing as I want to do an episode per chapter because it's much neater, so... you have been warned; no complaining about that. And, as I just said, doing an episode per chapter is a lot more writing than just spacing out scenes from a movie, so I might not be able to update as quickly as I did before, so please be patient with that._

**Wow, that's a lot of notes...**

**I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised at the amount of PMs I've been getting from people, asking me about this verse and my ideas for it. I didn't think my story would so popular considering it's a just re-write, but I'm glad you all enjoy it :)**

**Okay, here's the first episode. Thank you for waiting (im)patiently :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly changed plotline.**

**Episode Narrator: Hiccup**

* * *

_This is Berk._

_For generations, it was Viking against dragon. Then one day, everything changed._

Hiccup grinned from his position on Toothless' back, pressing and pulling on the stirrup pedal with his prosthetic, the two performing twists and turns as Astrid and Stormfly calmly followed from behind. Astrid couldn't help but be impressed with the two; Hiccup and Toothless were perfectly in sync, as if they shared a mind, using their instincts to guide each other. Not even Astrid was able to do that with Stormfly; she had to communicate her wants with Stormfly vocally, and she couldn't help but feel envy, hoping she could one day have such a symbiotic relationship with Stormfly in the future.

She also couldn't help but feel annoyed at his carelessness.

His leg was still healing...

_I met Toothless, and Astrid met Stormfly, and, together, the four of us showed people that, instead of fighting dragons, we can ride them, live with them, and even train them._

Astrid and Hiccup steered their dragons toward the top of a nearby rock pillar, where four others were waiting for them, the other members of the small team they formed nearly four months ago after the defeat of the monstrous Red Death. Ruffnut and Tuffnut on their Zippleback, BarfBelch, Fishlegs on his Gronkle, Meatlug, and Snotlout on his Nightmare, Hookfang. And then there was, of course, Astrid, their teacher, on her Nadder, Stormfly, and Hiccup, their leader, on his Night Fury, Toothless.

This so called team was formed after the sudden influx of dragons that had decided to land on Berk after their nest and Queen had been destroyed. The six were, currently, the only ones on Berk riding dragonback. A few people were keeping dragons as companions, including Gobber, but they have yet to get used to the idea of actually riding them.

Toothless pulled upward, Hiccup pulling up the stirrup in response, and the two landed next to Snotlout on the rock pillar, Stormfly and Astrid landing next to them on the far end.

Astrid glanced over, finding the others' attention on her. "Okay, guys," She smiled, "Best Trick Competition."

They had been meeting up for these competition for weeks now, one of the highlights of the week for them, especially for Hiccup and Astrid. Hiccup, due to his father insistence on chief-training, and Astrid, due to being constantly badgered with questions from the villagers on the dragons and their habits and whatnot.

"Who's first?" She asked.

"Uh," Fishlegs began, only to get cut off.

"Me," Snotlout interrupted, and Fishlegs and Hiccup shot him an irritant look.

"Actually," Fishlegs tried again, "I think it's-"

"Me," Snotlout interrupted again.

Before his cousin and friend get into it, Hiccup interrupted with an irritated grunt. "Sweet baby Thor in a thunderstorm," He growled, jerking his hand to point forward, "_Go!_"

"Oh, we'll go," Snotlout smirked, and Astrid glanced down in time to catch Hookfang's irritated eyes, "And when we do, Hookfang and me are gonna set the sky on..." Hookfang snorted, his irritation reaching its peak, and he quickly hopped from the rock formation, dive-bombing downward. "...FIIIRRRRE!"

Astrid glanced over at the sound of Hiccup's snort, catching his smirk as he watched Hookfang torture his cousin, the boy's screaming beginning to turn a bit shrill. Astrid let a small grin form on her face when Hookfang dived underwater, Snotlout, _somehow_, managing to scream even then, without choking.

He's been having this problem with his dragon for a while now, and, really it's his own fault; trying to assert your dominance over a Monstrous Nightmare, a male one at that, is a very bad idea. Plus, Hookfang seemed to be trying to tone down his rider's impulsive arrogance, and Astrid really, _really_, hoped it worked.

Admittedly, though, he has gotten a much better attitude since the Red Death. But... he still hits on her, and bugs Hiccup to no end, and it always made Astrid look forward to seeing what kind of torture Hiccup and Hookfang came up with.

"Remind me to host these things more often," Astrid muttered quietly to Hiccup, who snorted.

"Consider it done," He smirked, glancing over at Snotlout as Hookfang landed back on top of the cliff in their previous spot.

"I'm alive?" Snotlout stuttered, patting his hands up and down his chest as if he had to confirm that fact. "I'm alive!" He cheered, raising his hands up excitedly. When he caught Hiccup's raised eyebrow and pointed stare, he immediately tried to cover it up with a grin, and Astrid took notice of Hookfang rolling his eyes. "I mean, of course I am."

"It's our turn," Fishlegs piped up, giving Meatlug a small pat. "Ready, Meatlug?" She gave a happy snort before gently lifting up off the ground, her bee-like wings flapping too rapidly to see.

Everyone watched, their expressions a bit bored, as Fishlegs and Meatlug took off...

...made a circle around the sea stack...

...and landed.

"Yes!" Fishlegs cheered, "New personal best!" He gave Meatlug a hug from atop her, and the Gronkle gave an affection snort, accompanied by a lick across the cheek, and the others cringed in disgust.

Ruffnut rolled her eyes at the too affectionate pair before grinning. "My turn!"

"No," Tuffnut argued, "My turn!"

Ruffnut gave him a stare that was, somehow, both blank and annoyed. "We have the same dragon, idiot."

"Oh, right," Tuffnut grinned, holding up his hand for a fist-bump, and Ruffnut rolled her eyes at him, but gave in anyway as the two took off. BarfBelch flew pretty fast, and pretty neatly, until the twins started their usual routine.

"Go left!" Ruffnut ordered, and Barf immediately pointed his neck in the direction he was told, but...

"Go right!" Tuffnut yelled, and Belch attempted to listen, resulting in a highly confused dragon. In an attempt to rectify the situation, the twins tried to shout their siblings' previous order, only succeeding in making things much worse.

Astrid couldn't help but face-palm, her brows furrowed in irritation as BarfBelch began spinning out of control, and she shot Hiccup a look when she heard him snicker, but he simply gave her a smirk in return.

Annoyed, BarfBelch through his riders off of him, choosing to follow his own path of flight as opposed to his riders', and the twins screamed as they flew past the outcrop.

"Oh, no!" Tuffnut shouted, "Oh, this is awesome _and_ scary!"

Barf and Belch caught their respective riders, the two, amazingly, only suffering some lopsided helmets, and the dragon calmly landed on the cliff, the expressions on the two faces ones of extreme annoyance.

"Oh, man..." Ruffnut exhaled, her face both exhilarated and annoyed, "We almost died."

"I know," Tuffnut muttered before perking up, "Wanna go again?"

Hiccup glared at him. "No," He snapped before calming a little and glancing over at Astrid, "It's _Astrid's_ turn."

"_Thank you_, Hiccup," She said in a mock pompous tone before grinning at him, "You might wanna take notes."

He gave her a small grin as she nudged Stormfly's flanks with her heels, "Let's go!" Stormfly, the dragon's bright hide, coupled with her speed, causing her to nearly disappear into the bright blue sky. Out of everyone on their little team, Stormfly was the second fastest, just behind Hiccup and Toothless, and Astrid often organized races between the two. Of course, Hiccup always won, but Astrid was competitive, continuously challenging him.

Astrid kept saying that he always won in hand-to-hand combat, so it wasn't fair that he kept winning dragon races. Hiccup's excuse was that she was a healer, and healer's aren't normally taught how to fight, and that it wasn't as if he deliberately went out into the woods to find a Night Fury; it just sort of happened.

Which was a lie. Every time he heard the whirring of the Night Fury, he went running out to see if he could find it.

"Okay, Stormfly, tail dip!" Astrid ordered, the Nadder immediately dipped her tail into the water, causing it to spray around as they sped above the ocean. "Now twirl!" The Nadder immediately obliged. "Upward spiral!"

When Stormfly finished her routine, she stopped in the air, smiling up at Astrid when the girl cheered. "Alright, Stormfly!"

Stormfly and Astrid landed in their original spot, and Hiccup grinned, opening his mouth to speak before Snotlout cut him off, and, without moving his head, he glanced back at him with an irritated gleam.

"Yeah, but can you do that _without_ the dragon?" He asked sarcastically, and Hiccup's face darkened momentarily before he gave Snotlout a harsh punch on the shoulder, nearly sending his cousin off his dragon with an, "Ow!"

He rolled his eyes before his face brightened up again, and he gave Toothless a small pat. "Looks like we got our work cut out for us, don't we?" Toothless huffed happily in response, glancing back up at his rider, and Astrid lowered her head a little to hide her smile. Ever since the Red Death debacle, Hiccup's been smiling a lot more; it seemed as if he was finally able to be a teenager instead of just the son of a chief, and she knew Toothless had a lot to do with it.

"Ready?" Toothless grunted, and Hiccup pressed on the pedal, and Toothless shot upward with enough speed to cause the others' hair and clothes to flap. The two suddenly paused in mid-air before Toothless whirled around, dive-bombing downward, his speed creating a familiar high-pitched whistle, stopping just short of the water. The two sped over the ocean, the water flying around them due to their speed, before they lifted upward again.

As they came upon an outcrop, Hiccup pulled the stirrup back before a metal snap was heard, signalling the tail fin was locked in place, and he quickly unhooked his harness and removed his prosthetic from the stirrup, hopping off of Toothless' back, landing on the outcrop as Toothless flew under. Running as if he had two feet instead of one, Hiccup's grin never left him as he leaped off of the outcrop and onto Toothless' back as he came out from under the rocks before snapping his prosthetic into place.

"They're still the best," Astrid smiled softly, though there was a hint of irritation in her tone as she and the others watched Toothless shoot off a couple off shots to create a light show.

"Another win for us, bud," Hiccup grinned, patting Toothless on the head, and the dragon gave a happy grunt.

Slowly, Astrid's smile lowered as she allowed her irritation to take over.

His leg...

* * *

Hiccup hissed as he took a seat on a large rock, gripping his bad leg with both hands as he sank down slowly. Toothless moaned beside him, taking a few sniffs at the prosthetic before Hiccup gently shooed him away and reached down to unravel the rope around the pant leg.

"I told you," Astrid muttered irritably as she kneeled in front of him, helping him remove his prosthetic. She removed the two screws on one side of the metal strap, while he removed the two on the other before he unclasped the metal, unhooking it from the wooden portion in the process. **[1]**

She set the leg aside before examining his stump. It was pinkish and swollen, and she gave him an irritated glance, but he simply returned it with a pursed smile. Rolling her eyes, she grabbed the small pouch hooked to her belt, which held most of her medical supplies, and removed the salve Elder Gothi gave both her and Hiccup to use on his leg whenever it was irritated.

Stormfly sniffed at her hand a little before Astrid shooed her in a manner similar to Hiccup, turning her attention to Hiccup's stump.

"You're not supposed to run around on it like that," She muttered as she spread the salve along the stump, being as gentle as she could, knowing it was still very sensitive, being sure to spread it along his leg as well.

He simply shrugged in response, and she saw him swallow quietly, but hard. It was one thing to see a wooden and metal contraption in place of his leg, but to actually see _nothing_ there was still something he was getting used to.

And there was the pain.

After he woke up from his coma, he had managed to forget the pain in all the excitement, but halfway through his flight with her and the others, he had suddenly twisted around and landed. She had followed him, catching sight of his pained, panting face, tears stinging the corner of his eyes. He couldn't even limp anymore, so Toothless had to carry him back to bed, and Elder Gothi had given him a light tap with her staff out of irritation of his carelessness. When she removed the leg to examine, Hiccup had just seemed to freeze up at the sight of his stump before he began breathing in a way that made the Elder give him sleep medicine to calm him.

After that little fiasco, he kept trying to get used to his new leg much too quickly, which only set him back as it irritated his stump, like now for example, which, in turn, irritated her.

He jerked a little when she moved over the knot in the middle of his stump, the bone.

"Sorry," She murmured, wiping the salve off on her leggings before placing the lid back over the tiny wooden cup and setting it back in her pouch.

"S'fine," He slurred before rearranging his prosthetic and retying the rope. He used Toothless as a prop to slowly stand before testing his weight on his prosthetic, flinching a little as he did. He shook his leg out a little before hopping onto Toothless and hooking his prosthetic into the stirrup.

Astrid followed suit, hopping onto Stormfly, and the two took to the air, flying their way back to the village.

* * *

_Yep... dragons._

_Most people on Berk would say that life here was much better now that we made peace with them._

_Unfortunately, dragons are still... well... dragons._

Berk was never a quiet place, but it was easy to see that things were much more hectic than usual as Astrid and Hiccup dismounted their dragons and trekked through the village plaza, catching sight of nearly every dragon there scarfing down anything they could get their claws on. Hiccup shot Astrid a look, and she returned it with a nervous smile as they watched the chaos around them.

"Let go of my food!"

"Get off my roof, you pest!"

Astrid glanced over before burying her face in hands at the sight of a dragon taking off with a woman's washings... as if the Boneknapper incident wasn't enough humiliation involving Vikings and underwear.

"Astrid," She heard Hiccup mutter.

"What?" She asked, her voice muffled.

"It's three o' clock."

Astrid grimaced, her head snapping up and catching sight of the dragons flying over the island. "Oh, no..." She muttered.

"Ew..." She muttered as she and Hiccup dodged the green blobs, backing up quickly to get away, stopping directly under Mulch and Bucket's protective shields on sticks, "Gross, gross, gross... oh, poop... oh, that's disgusting..."

"Hey, Mulch. Hey, Bucket," Hiccup greeted a bit awkwardly. "Sorry about the, uh..." He added, indicating the disgusting shower going on around them.

"Everyday at three," Bucket said cheerfully, "They're regular, at least. A tip of the cap."

"It was better than the days of kill or be killed," Mulch shrugged. "Oh, hey, Hiccup," He added, "We got some fish for that father of yours."

"Yeah?" Hiccup grinned a little.

"It's about time," Astrid muttered, crossing her arms in her irritation, only to yelp when Hiccup smacked his prosthetic into her right foot.

"Bucket, give the boy the cod," Mulch ordered. Bucket turned to a nearby barrel, and Hiccup and Astrid's faces fell when they saw that there was no fish inside. Hiccup heaved an irritated sigh through his nose, sharing a look with Astrid.

"I ate it already?" Bucket blinked in surprise, and Astrid face-palmed; damn his head injury, "Did I enjoy it?"

"Uh, no, Bucket," Hiccup muttered, his lips twitching as he attempted fight his smirk, and Astrid shot him a look before turning her attention back to Bucket.

"I'm afraid that the, uh..." Astrid added, pointing to the small group of Terrible Terrors and Mood Dragons as they took off with the cod. Glancing up, Hiccup caught sight of a few dragons flying over to the other side of the island.

"Oh, no..." He muttered; he did _not_ want to deal with that old wretch.

* * *

_Most of us here on Berk are willing to take the good with the bad._

_But there are those who will never accept dragons, and will do anything to drive them away._

"Store the rest of it in the back; the fishing boats just came in with a big catch," Stoick ordered the Vikings filling the food storage with the latest catch of fish. Hiccup glanced over at the sound of an odd grumble, catching sight of Toothless eyeing the fish; he tapped the dragon's nose, and he snorted quietly, shaking his head a little before giving Hiccup a look.

Winter was fast approaching, and, currently, Stoick was overseeing the stocking of the food supplies; it was the village's top priority during the winter months, especially considering how close it was to the time the sea began to freeze over.

"Stoick!"

Astrid and Hiccup sagged next to each other in annoyance at the sound of Mildew's scratchy voice. If there was one thing on this island Hiccup and Astrid hated more than losing, it was Mildew. Actually, they were pretty sure the whole island hated Mildew.

"Ah, and here's Mildew with the complaint of the day," Gobber grunted, giving Grump a hefty pat on the side, making the large dragon grumble happily.

"You picked a bad time, Mildew," Stoick sighed irritably as the old man came storming over to him, "I'm in the middle of storing food; the Freeze is coming."

Hiccup snorted. Yeah, that would make Mildew shut up.

"It's those dragons again," Mildew growled, "They are not fit to live among civilized men."

"Neither are you, Mildew," Gobber huffed.

"Yeah," Hiccup smirked, "Why do you think they built your house so far out of town."

Astrid covered up a snort of laughter with cough, hiding her grin behind her hand when Mildew shot Hiccup a glare. "Ah, very well, make your jokes," He sneered, and Astrid snorted again when Hiccup simply have him a blank stare. "Meanwhile, these dragons are in our cod! Turning people's houses into piles of rubble!" Astrid winced when a small crowd gathered behind him, shouting their agreements.

"Um," Hiccup piped up sarcastically, "Weren't _you_ the ones who freaked out when they flew off during Snoggletog?"

Astrid's snort at his words turned into a light laughter when his father cuffed him on the back of the head. He grumbled, ignoring her and Toothless' laughter as he rubbed at the sore spot.

"They even disturb an old man's rest!" Mildew continued, gesturing to the circles under his eyes. Astrid raised a brow in confusion; he's always looked like that... "Can't you see these bags under my eyes?"

"He's right," Hiccup leaned over, whispering in her ear, making her shudder a little at the odd feeling, "He's hideous."

Astrid snorted continuously in an attempt to hold back her laughter, though her mood was quenched when Mildew shouted again.

"These are wild and unpredictable beasts!"

Astrid glanced around nervously as the small crowd began shouting in agreement, while Hiccup simply glowered at them, patting Toothless in an attempt to calm him when the dragon began to growl lightly at all the negative energy surrounding them.

"They even cracked this poor man's skull open. Like an egg," Mildew added, pointing to Bucket. Hiccup glared at him. Really? He had to go there?

"Eggs? I like eggs!" Bucket smiled, "Scrambled! Over easy! Poached!"

Astrid and Hiccup sagged slightly; at least Bucket didn't mind.

"You need to put those dragons in cages!" Mildew hissed, meeting with many shouts of agreement. Hiccup and Astrid glowered at him, while Stormfly and Toothless growled at the suggestion.

Oh, for the love of the gods...

"They don't mean any harm," Astrid protested, "They're just being... well... dragons." Hiccup and Gobber gave small nods of agreement, fondly petting their respective dragons, and Stormfly nudged Astrid gently.

"If there's a problem, Mildew," Stoick cut in, his tone low, "I'll deal with it."

"Oh, there is a problem, Stoick," Mildew snarled, "I think I speak for everyone when I say you better do something about it."

With that, he and the others dispersed, muttering angrily under there breaths, leaving Astrid and Hiccup glaring after them.

* * *

That evening, the Haddocks and the Hoffersons, plus Gobber, were all gathered within the Haddock Hall for dinner. Currently, Gobber was carving a wooden duck for a parent that had made the order for their child, and Thora, Cnut, and Stoick were brainstorming for ideas on what to do with the dragons. Hiccup and Astrid kept quiet for the moment, while Stormfly and Toothless busied themselves with emptying out the fish barrels, three baby Nadders surrounding Stormfly, waiting for their... regurgitated fish.

Grump was outside with his fish, the Hotburple much too big to fit in a house packed with people and two other dragons, plus the babies. Snaptrap was with him as well; the dark blue Nadder seemed to have taken a liking to Astrid, and now she was stuck taking care of two Nadders, plus the three little ones. Though, Astrid felt like it had more to do with Stormfly than with her; the two Nadders got along a little _too_ well for Astrid's tastes... plus, Stormfly _did_ mate with him during Snoggletog, subsequently laying his eggs, the aforementioned little ones, giving Astrid reason to believe that Nadders keep a single mate as opposed to the dragons' usual indiscriminate mating. **[2]**

The Hoffersons had been staying over for dinner with the Haddocks for a few weeks now, and Astrid had a feeling they were discussing a certain _something_ behind her and Hiccup's backs. Not that she minded, but...

"We can't just let dragons run wild like they own the place," Stoick sighed. He didn't want to admit it, but Mildew did have a point. The dragons were causing a lot of trouble around the village, and, as chief, he needed to do something about it.

"Hey, we could put up signs!" Cnut suggested, and Astrid face-planted against the table, her forehead creating a loud thug when it hit the wood.

"Signs? For dragons?" Gobber quizzed incredulously.

"No," Thora cut in, "For the people."

This time, it was Hiccup's forehead that hit the table.

"Signs? For Vikings?" Gobber asked in the same incredulous tone.

"Or," Stoick cut in, "We can build a huge net and stretch it around the plaza."

Hiccup and Astrid released muffled groans in unison, causing their dragons to nudge their respective riders, warbling at their mood.

"You do know they breath fire, Dad?" Hiccup pointed out, his nasally voice laced with attitude and sarcasm.

"I know very well they breath fire, Hiccup!" Stoick snapped before he sighed resignedly. "Maybe Mildew was right. We have to figure out something..."

"No, no, wait, Stoick!" Astrid immediately cut in, quickly standing, "What if I deal with the dragons?"

"You?" Stoick blinked, and even Hiccup snapped his head up to look at her.

"Who else?" Astrid shrugged, a small smile playing on her face, "If anyone can control them, I can. I'm the best woman for the job."

"You're not a woman yet, Astrid," Thora began, but Astrid cut her off.

"Not if you don't give me the chance to be!" She pointed out. Hiccup grimaced, but, given that he was partially behind Astrid and that his face was only slightly illuminated by the fire, she couldn't see it. He knew his girlfriend _(was she his girlfriend? they hadn't established anything yet...)_ had a point; she was the most qualified at training the dragons _(at the moment, he grinned inwardly, he's catching up quite quickly)_, but she couldn't really round up a whole island of dragons alone, and he had to go see Gramma Gothi for the physical therapy she and his dad literally forced him into for his leg, so he wouldn't be able to help her, and he couldn't help but worry. Even so, the others agreed.

"Fair enough," Cnut muttered.

"You'll have your chance," Stoick said, "Starting tomorrow."

Astrid gave a little grin.

* * *

"Okay," Astrid grinned first thing that morning, Stormfly by her side, "There's gonna be some changes around here."

Her attention was instantly caught by a Hobblegrunt attempting to steal some woman's bread. Astrid was able to keep it calm enough to place her hand on its nose, but a Gronkle startled a group of chickens, which, in turn, startled the Hobblegrunt. Before Astrid could do anything, her attention was caught by a pair of fighting dragons, a Raincutter and a Scuttleclaw, a poor sheep getting caught in the crossfire.

"Stormfly, stop that fight!" Astrid ordered as she ran after the sheep, "I'll put out the sheep!" Stormfly squawked before flying up toward the fight as Astrid chased after the sheep before she noticed that things around her were just going from bad to worse.

Meanwhile, on the hill overlooking the plaza, the rest of the riders and their dragons, minus Hiccup and Toothless, observed the happenings below. Unfortunately, Fishlegs was the only one who appeared worried; the others just looked completely bored.

"So, where's Hiccup?" Tuffnut asked distractedly, his mouth opened in a somewhat dimwitted manner as he watched Astrid scramble around below.

"He's over at Elder Gothi's," Snotlout answered, his tone also distracted, the same expression on his face, watching Astrid as well, "She makes him take physical therapy."

"Makes sense," Ruffnut added, grinning in amusement as she watched Astrid, wincing with a widened grin when the girl was knocked over by a panicking sheep.

Hearing the flapping of wings, the teens glanced over in time the see Toothless land on the hill with them, Hiccup unhooking his prosthetic from the stirrup. Snotlout, knowing how sore his leg got after his sessions with Elder Gothi, immediately walked over, letting Hiccup use his shoulder as a prop as the boy limped over with his cousin to the ledge of the hill, catching sight of Astrid's debacle down below.

"What's she doing?" He muttered when they reached their destination, leaning heavily against Toothless as he watched her run around frantically.

"I think she's helping the dragons break stuff," Tuffnut grinned, making Ruffnut snort a little, "Cool."

"Wow, she could really use our help," Fishlegs winced when she was batted to the side by a wayward Snafflefang.

"We'll get to it," Ruffnut smirked, "In a minute."

Hiccup glanced up, seeing that the sun was just past its highest point in the sky, and tilted his head back in exasperation. "And, it's three o' clock."

Down below, Astrid glanced up when she caught sight of several shadows flying above her, and let out a moan of despair.

"Oh, no..."

* * *

"Ow..." Astrid moaned, sprawled across her bed, and Stormfly, sitting on her rock slab, and Snaptrap, his head poking in through her opened window, allowing Astrid to hear the excited chirping of the small ones that slept out there with him, squawked sympathetically at her, "Everything hurts..." **[3]**

Stormfly squawked again before shooting a weak blast of fire to heat a pan of coal to warm up her bed in an attempt to sooth the girls aching muscles before nuzzling Snaptrap, her rock slab close enough to the window to easily reach him.

"Astrid?" A familiar nasal voice resounded through her hall, followed by the sound of a closing door, "You home?"

"Hiccup?" She sputtered, quickly scrambling up and straightening out her clothes before looking over at Stormfly nervously as she heard Hiccup's footsteps walking up her steps, "I don't look too beat up, do I?"

Stormfly gurgled, her pupils expanding to the point that made it difficult to see the yellow of her eyes, while Snaptrap simply snorted at her.

"Great," Astrid huffed just as the door opened up, "Dragon pity."

She quickly twirled around, plastering a grin on her face, "Hiccup, hi! Did you, uh... did you have a good day?"

"It was decent," He shrugged as Toothless attempted to push his way in behind him; the room was a bit too small for two dragons to fit in, the reason Snaptrap slept with the babies outside _(actually, the babies took turns, sleeping with Stormfly one night and sleeping with Snaptrap the other)_ in a large nest of hay and rock; it was okay, though, as Hiccup was working on making a small shelter for them at her request, right next to the window so he could still poke his head in. "Physical therapy, then a flight with Toothless." Toothless let out a coo at the sound of his name, gently nudging Hiccup's side.

"Right," Astrid laughed nervously, "Hope that went well."

"So how was _your_ day?" Hiccup asked, a smirk in his tone as he crossed his arms.

"Oh, uneventful," Astrid attempted to shrug. She hated that she still got so flustered around Hiccup, especially when she was lying; which was terribly, as usual. "Hung around the plaza, as usual... you know..."

Hiccup raised a brow. "Yeah, I do know." Astrid's nervous grin was replaced with an embarrassed face. "We saw you out there," Hiccup added, picking at what appeared to be lint on her shirt, "I'm surprised you're still standing."

At that, Astrid gave up on the pretense entirely and let out a massive groan, falling back on her bed. "I'm gonna be seeing flaming sheep in my nightmares for months..."

Hiccup snorted, taking a seat next to her in an attempt to take pressure off his left leg before lying back so that they were side by side. They lied there in a silence that was somehow both comfortable and awkward before Hiccup hesitantly and slowly moved his arm so that it was around her shoulders, and she shifted to accommodate, sliding her head over so that it rested in a spot on his shoulder that was directly between his arm and his collar bone, and he absentmindedly rubbed his thumb up and down the part of her arm his hand was resting on.

The two didn't even look at each other, letting their eyes stay on the ceiling, and, had they looked over, they would've seen their dragons share a teasing look with each other, as well as a laughing grumble.

The moment was ruined, however, by a shout from downstairs, followed by footsteps.

"Astrid!" Stoick yelled, and the girl let out a yelp, she and Hiccup scrambling to their feet. Hiccup winced when he put too much weight on his left leg, but, thankfully, Toothless caught him before he could face-plant the floor, nudging him upright just as the door opened.

Stoick entered the room, Thora and Cnut standing in the doorway, the room too crowded for them to enter.

"Astrid, what in Thor's name in goin' on out there?" Stoick demanded, "The plaza looks like a war zone!"

"I know it looks bad..." Astrid stammered, but Hiccup cut her off before she could continue.

"_Really_ bad," He muttered quietly, and Astrid winced, not confident enough to even shove the boy, let alone smack him like she wanted; she was afraid he'd topple over because of his leg.

_And_ he hits back.

_Always._

Very _hard_.

"Yeah," She huffed before continuing in stutters, "But this is only phase one of my master plan, _which,_ Hiccup is helping with."

Hiccup sent her a glower, not too pleased that she dragged him into this.

"Oh?" Cnut blinked, "So you _do_ have a plan?"

"We do," Hiccup smiled irritantly, "Of course we do. It's very complex. Lots of drawings. Several moving parts... yep, it's pretty wild."

"Uh huh," Thora muttered skeptically, "Well, this better work because Mildew's stirred up the whole island."

"Great," Hiccup muttered, "Just what we need."

"I know it's bad, son," Stoick sighed. "Listen, you two, if you don't get those dragons under control, they'll be calling for their heads," He warned before he, Thora, and Cnut turned and headed back downstairs, with Cnut giving Hiccup a suspicious glance, ever the protective father.

Toothless grumbled worriedly, nuzzling his head under Hiccup's arm. Hiccup sighed, scratching him behind the ear. "Relax, bud, your head's not going anywhere."

"Okay, so..." Astrid mumbled, "There are, like, a bazillion dragons and only two of us..."

"Correction," Hiccup said, "There are, like, a bazillion dragons and only one of you."

She shot him a look, but he simply smirked in return. Rolling her eyes, she mumbled again, "We really do need a plan..."

Hiccup's mind whirred for a moment before he came up with something.

"I have an idea."

* * *

"_Train_ dragons?" Ruffnut muttered incredulously the next morning, "_That's_ your plan?"

"_Here?_" Tuffnut added, "Where we used to kill them?"

The riders and their dragons, plus Snaptrap, were currently within the training arena, previously known as the Kill Ring. The dragons, minus Stormfly and Toothless, were fidgeting and glancing around quite nervously. The babies, meaning Stormfly's, were at home in their little nest _(the others had allowed their baby dragons to be adopted, as they, with the exception of Snotlout, who gave his babies away as Nightmares grew too large for any one house even with a built in shelter, didn't have the luxury of a large house like Astrid and Hiccup. Especially the twins, who shared a room... and everything else)_. **[4]  
**

Hiccup decided to make the term 'Dragon Training' a bit a more literal.

"Right," Astrid confirmed, placing a hand on her hip as Hiccup set down a basket of bread next to Stormfly, "Because we don't do that anymore."

"Actually," Hiccup muttered as he walked over to Snaptrap, trying to calm the dragon down by smoothing down his tail spines and grooming his scales, "The dragons do seem a little nervous."

"That's because they're very sensitive," Fishlegs said sadly, hugging a rather terrified looking Meatlug, "Meatlug especially. She lost a cousin here. We try not to talk about it."

Hiccup and Astrid gave him an odd look, wondering just how he knew of Meatlug's cousin.

Hiccup shook it off, rolling his eyes a little as Stormfly gave Snaptrap an affectionate nuzzle in an attempt to help her mate calm down. He didn't think Astrid would actually go for the plan, figuring that the dragons would react in such a way. But, she had come into his home that morning, shaking him awake, telling him that they were going with his idea, happy that she wouldn't have to deal with things alone.

"It's amazing your dad just gave us the arena," Astrid smiled at him, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yup..." He muttered, "It would be... you know, if he did, yeah... But he didn't, so... that's another thing we should try not to talk about."

"Wait," Astrid furrowed her brows, "We're going behind your father's back? I thought you told him about the idea."

"Nope," Hiccup said flippantly, "And there you go. Talking about it."

Astrid stared at him for a moment longer before she rolled her eyes and turned her attention to the others. "Alright," She said, "The dragons are out of control. We want them to be able to live in our world without destroying it, but they can't without our help. They've been trashing things in the village... we need to do something about that."

"Got it," Tuffnut grinned, "Help the dragons break stuff. We can totally do that."

"Um, no," Astrid tried, "I said..."

"Okay, so first, we should make them really, really angry..." Tuffnut continued, and Ruffnut gave him an amused smirk.

"No problem," She said, "You anger everybody."

"Correction," Tuffnut added, "_We_ anger everybody."

"True," Ruffnut shrugged, and Astrid sighed irritably.

"Guys!" Hiccup snapped, "This is serious. Mildew wants our dragons caged. And I don't know about you, but that's _not_ okay with me."

"You're right," Tuffnut muttered. "She's sorry," He added, jerking his shoulder at his sister, who promptly punched his arm.

"Okay then," Astrid sighed, "Next problem." She grabbed a loaf of bread from the basket Hiccup carried in. "The dragons are eating everything in sight. Now, when a dragon grabs something it's not supposed to have," She tossed Stormfly the bread, "You can get it back by just giving them a little scratch below the chin." She demonstrated by giving Stormfly a small scratch, careful to avoid her dead spot, not wanting a Nadder squashing her, and Stormfly immediately let go of the bread, arching into her touch.

"Blah, blah, blah, blah!" Snotlout snorted, snatching the bread out of her hand, "Maybe that works for you and Stormfly, but Hookfang and me... we do things a little bit differently."

Astrid crossed her arms in irritation as she watched Snotlout toss the bread to Hookfang, who caught it, bobbing his head happily, looking quite serene at the moment.

At the moment.

"When I want this big boy to drop something, I just get right in his face, and..." Snotlout suddenly hopped forward, jerking his hand to point at the ground, yelling at the top of his lungs, and Hookfang lowered his head so that it was parallel with the ground, giving Snotlout a look of surprise, "DROP THAT RIGHT NOW! YOU HEAR ME!?"

Hookfang snorted, his eyes narrowing in irritation, and tossed the bread away before snatching Snotlout into his jaws, hoisting him in the air and giving him a good shake before holding still.

"See?" Snotlout said, his voice muffled and slightly shaky, but still sounding a bit smug, "He dropped it." Okay, Hookfang _did_ drop the bread, but...

Hiccup snorted, crossing his arms putting most of his weight on his right leg.

"Heh, heh," Tuffnut grinned, "Should we help him?"

"Yeah," Hiccup smirked, "In a minute." Ruffnut snickered at his mimicked words, and the two shared a small fist bump.

Astrid rolled her eyes before giving a smile. "Alright," She said, "We've still got lots of training to do, but together, we can get these dragons under control."

With that, Hiccup signaled for the team to leave the arena, everyone heading out into the village, the dragons running on ahead of them.

Well... almost everyone.

"Hello?" Snotlout's muffled voice was barely heard over Hookfang's annoyed growls, "Can somebody do that chin scratchy thing? Hey! You guys still there?"

Hookfang snorted before he began shaking him again.

* * *

"Huh," Fishlegs grunted in surprise as the group of six walked through the village, searching for the dragons, "No dragons."

Not even a Terrible Terror...

"That was easy," Tuffnut grinned.

"Lunch?" Snotlout added with a satisfied, smug grin, the now freed boy covered in dragon saliva. Good luck getting that out, Hiccup thought with a snort.

"That's weird," Astrid muttered, glancing around the any sign of dragons, "If the dragons aren't here, where are they?"

Just as the words left her mouth, and explosion and a few screams were heard from the plaza.

"My guess?" Hiccup muttered in irritation, pointing toward the large cloud of smoke, "That way."

On cue, everyone sprinted _(or, Hiccup **tried** to sprint, at least)_ toward the food storage, finding a group of familiar dragons helping themselves to the many barrels.

"Snaptrap?" Astrid exclaimed in horror, and the dark blue Nadder lifted his head from the barrel of cod to give her his attention, the three little Nadders surrounding him and munching on the cod.

"Hookfang..." Snotlout muttered in a similar tone, and the dragon reacted just the same, turning his attention to his rider. Astrid was frozen in place, her attention on the Nadders as Hiccup ran inside the storage just in time to see Stoick toss a broken support beam aside in anger.

"They've eaten everything!" He shouted, "We've got nothing left for the Freeze!"

"I warned you, Stoick," Mildew hissed. Oh, he _had_ to be there. "But did you listen? No! Instead you put a bunch of _children_ in charge!" Astrid bristled almost visibly at the comment, while Hiccup didn't even bother to hide his anger. "Now look at what those dragons have done! Caging is too good for those beasts!"

Astrid cut in before any more could be said, afraid that there was little she could do to help the situation. "Stoick, I can fix this! We, we were just starting to-"

"Enough, Astrid!" Stoick bellowed loudly, making Hiccup cringe; the boy wasn't entirely over the disowning episode, though he and his father _were_ trying. "How can I trust you to control the dragons, when you couldn't even control your own?"

Astrid and Hiccup turned their attention to a cart of meat, slumping in despair at the sight of Toothless and Stormfly sharing the ham. Toothless glanced up innocently, giving his rider a wide eyed look.

"Oh, Toothless..." Hiccup mumbled, and Toothless grumbled in confusion before dropping the ham back into the cart.

"Bucket, Mulch, man the boats!" Stoick ordered.

"It's too late, Stoick," Mulch said regrettably, "It took us six months to catch all that fish."

"Don't tell me it's too late," Stoick growled, "We've got to try."

"Of course we do," Mulch nodded before turning to Bucket, "Don't tell the chief it's too late. You're always so negative."

"I don't know what's wrong with me..." Bucket muttered before following the man to the docks.

"Dad, please, you've got to listen to me!" Hiccup begged, his voice becoming more and more desperate, "I know the dragons better than-"

"Not now, Hiccup!" Stoick snapped, ignoring the pleading looks coming from, not only his son, but the other teenagers as well, "I have a village to feed!"

Astrid glowered; as always, the village came first. Honest to the gods, Astrid thought, He's a father, as well, not just the chief!

"The dragons have done enough damage," Stoick huffed, "By tonight, I want every one of them caged. Understand?" The others shared a look of simultaneous shock and despair, not expecting Stoick to actually take Mildew's advice.

"Bah!" Mildew huffed, "You can't just cage these dragons! You need to send them away now!" The despair grew when the villagers began roaring in agreement, a few villagers who had dragon companions of their own sharing a worried look behind the roaring crowd.

"You're right, Mildew," Stoick nodded stiffly, "We'll cage them tonight, and, in the morning, Astrid and Hiccup will send them off the island."

"What?" Astrid exclaimed, a hand flying to her mouth in her shock.

"Dad, please!" Hiccup begged as the man past him by. Stoick placed a stiff hand on his shoulder, a forced gesture, "I'm sorry, son."

Astrid stared at him as he walked off, not even bothering the stop the tears from welling up.

* * *

Astrid sighed in exhaustion as she and Stormfly slowly wandered through the village that night. She and the others had spent the rest of the day hording all the dragons on the island into the arena to stay there for the night, saving their own dragons for last, putting it off for as long as possible. They were allowing the same luxury to those who had dragon companions as well, including Gobber and Elder Gothi, so the imprinted dragons were still with their imprintee Vikings at the moment.

Gobber and Spitelout had taken to giving Stoick the silent treatment due to his decision. Hel, even Elder Gothi was giving the man the cold shoulder.

Astrid released a hefty, shaky sigh before her head snapped up in alarm when she heard a shout and a thud. She and Stormfly quickly sprinted around the corner, catching sight of Hiccup as he slowly and painfully rolled over onto his back, Toothless cooing worriedly as he helped nudge his rider over.

"Hiccup!" Astrid exclaimed, kneeling next to him, helping him sit up, "What happened?"

"Nothing," He grunted.

His shoulder hurt.

"Did your leg lock up?" Astrid asked, turning her attention to the incomplete appendage.

His leg hurt.

"I'm fine," He growled, jerking his leg away from her touch.

His pride hurt.

"Here, I'll help you up," She insisted, but he jerked away again.

"I don't need help," He muttered, not looking at her.

"Okay," She said calmly, but only leaned away a little, to his annoyance, and he slid upward a little before slowly pulling himself into a sitting position.

"I'm not handicapped," He muttered.

"I know."

"I'm not helpless."

"I know."

The two sat in silence for a moment, Astrid listening as Hiccup tried to catch his breath. Toothless crooned, nudging Hiccup a little, and he sighed, giving the dragon a light pat on the head.

"Sorry," He muttered, and Astrid scooted a bit closer to him before lightly resting her head on his shoulder. He didn't want her sympathy, or anybody's sympathy, really, not even his fellow amputees, so she decided to simply change the subject.

"What're we gonna do about our dragons?" She asked quietly, her head moving with Hiccup's shrug.

"I don't know what we can do..." He murmured, letting his head fall to the side to rest against hers.

"It's gonna be weird without Stormfly or Snaptrap around... and what about the babies? What's gonna happen to them?" Astrid mumbled, "I dunno, maybe I was wrong... maybe dragons can't be trained. A dragon's gonna do what a dragon's gonna do..."

"Wait," Hiccup said, lifting his head, "You know, you're right, Astrid. A dragon's gonna do what dragon's gonna do."

Astrid lifted her head to look at him as he continued, a grin slowly forming on his face. "It's in their nature," He said, "We just need to work with it."

"Learn to use it..." Astrid muttered before glancing up at Stormfly and Toothless, who cocked their heads at her curiously.

"I got it!" Astrid exclaimed, grinning excitedly. She gave Hiccup a quick peck on the corner of the mouth before speedily hopping up and mounting Stormfly. "Let's go get the others!"

Hiccup stared at her for a minute, looking slightly dazed, unused to Astrid taking the initiative, before he used Toothless as a prop to stand and mounted him, following Astrid and Stormfly into the sky.

* * *

The next morning found Mulch and Bucket still attempting to round up another load of fish. Pulling up the net for what felt like the thousandth time, Mulch sagged when saw them.

"Empty again," He muttered.

"Did I eat them already?" Bucket asked innocently, "Did I enjoy it? Oops, am I being too negative...?"

A familiar call resounded in the air, and the two turned their attention to the pair of dragon riders rapidly approaching them; Astrid and Stormfly, followed closely by Snotlout and Hookfang.

"Snotlout, scare us up some dinner!" Astrid ordered, a large grin plastered on her face; a truly rare sight to see when she was paired up alone with Hiccup's lovely, lovely cousin.

"Dragon attack!" Bucket yelped, ducking for cover as Hookfang flew over the boat before diving into the water, scaring a large school of cod straight into the net. When Mulch pulled the net up, it was as full as it had been just yesterday, and he shouted his thanks to the pair.

"That's right!" Snotlout crowed, "That just happened!"

Back on Berk, Hiccup and Toothless, accompanied by the twins and Fishlegs on their respective dragons, dive-bombed straight toward a certain grump's home.

"Afternoon, Mildew!" Hiccup smirked, greeting the confused old man quite cheerfully, glancing up to see that the sun was just past its highest point in the sky.

"Three o' clock!" Ruffnut cackled as she and the others called in the dragons to fly over the cabbage fields, "Time for the fertilizer!"

"Okay, Meatlug, let 'er rip!" Fishlegs gently instructed as the green rain began to fall, straight onto the opened cabbage field, much to Mildew's horror.

Well, he's not going to make much of a living now... but it was for a good cause.

Besides, nobody bought his cabbage even before the end of the war, so it shouldn't matter too much.

"Smile, Mildew!" Hiccup smirked as he and Toothless flew past him, "We just saved you three months of work!"

After their respective jobs were completed, the six riders met back up with each other back at the village, dismounting their dragons with glee.

"That was awesome!" Tuffnut grinned, "Did you see the look on his face?"

"How'd you know that would work?" Ruffnut added.

"Because they're dragons," Astrid smiled, giving Stormfly a nice scratch, "And they're gonna do what dragons do. We just have to work with them, not against them like we've been doing."

And, of course, the moment was ruined.

"There they are, Stoick!" Mildew shouted, and Hiccup winced at the dark look on his father's face, "Those dragons don't look like they're in cages to me."

"No," Stoick confirmed, glaring at Astrid and Hiccup, "They don't. This is not what I asked for."

* * *

Literally minuted later, they had been separated from their dragons and gathered into the arena. The entirety of the village had filled up the spectator stands, and Mildew had taken a front row seat with his creepy pet sheep, Fungus. Stoick entered the arena with Gobber, Cnut, and Thora, marching straight toward the nervous group.

"What's Stoick gonna do to us?" Fishlegs whimpered.

"I'm too pretty for jail..." Ruffnut moaned, and Tuffnut gave a snort of disagreement.

"Heh, who told you that?" He was answered with a fist to the jaw, nearly sending him to the ground, but he managed to regain his composure quite quickly.

Stoick glowered at them. "You all disobeyed my orders," He growled to the cowering group, "And there will be consequences."

"Dad, look, I'm the one who came up with-"

"No," Stoick cut Hiccup off, "You all had a hand in this. You took over this place without asking." They all lowered there eyes in shame. "You released the dragons without my wishes. Things are going to change around here." The teens shrunk, waiting for the punishment. "That's why I-"

"You're getting a dragon training academy!" Gobber cut in cheerfully, unable to hold in his excitement.

"Gobber!" Stoick huffed, and Hiccup felt like it was safe to say that his father was actually whining, "I wanted to tell them that!"

Hiccup caught Astrid's eyes, grinning at the impossibly excited gleam in them.

"Well, you can tell Hiccup the part about how proud you are of him!" Thora cut in, grinning in way that showed she only made her statement to purposely annoy Stoick, who huffed at her.

"Hiccup, that's, well... What she said," Stoick chuckled, a little awkwardly. Hey, at least they were trying. He turned his attention to Astrid, "The dragon training academy is all for you."

There was applauds from the crowds as the bars were lifted from the cages, allowing the dragons to reunite with their riders and companions.

"Hookfang! My buddy!" Snotlout cheered, hugging the Nightmare around the snout, and the dragon purred loudly, nuzzling him.

"Aw, c'mere," Ruffnut cooed, giving Barf a hug, and the dragon head trilled, happily nuzzling against her. Belch trilled as well, attempting to nuzzle her from behind before she shoved him away in annoyance. "Not _you,_" She muttered before turning her attention back to Barf, and Belch snorted in annoyance before his mood was quenched by Tuffnut.

"Oh, Grump!" Gobber crowed loudly as the large dragon lazily hovered toward him, "Oh, give me a cuddle!" The dragon snorted happily, a lazy smile on his face as he landed directly on top of Gobber, who let out a shout.

"Stormfly!" Astrid cheered, greeting her Nadder before Snaptrap nuzzled her as well, the the three babies hopping excitedly around her.

"Hey, Toothless," Hiccup mumbled happily when the black dragon bounded over to him, the boy unable to run on his irritated leg, leaning heavily on his right one. "Good to see you out," He mumbled again, wrapping his arms around the dragon's thick neck, leaning heavily against him in an attempt to take pressure off his leg, and Toothless purred quietly.

* * *

"How's it going?" Astrid asked quietly as she made her way across Hiccup's room, looking over his shoulder at the drawing he was working on, the new symbol for the arena.

"I don't know what it should be," He murmured, glancing up at her when she found a small, carved up tree stump to use as an extra chair.

"Use Toothless," She suggested, looking down at the incomplete insignia on the parchment.

Toothless cooed from his perch on Hiccup's window before bounding into the room, his flight gear completely removed, and hopping up onto the rafters before sliding off, hanging upside down by his tail and curling his wings around himself.

Astrid's lips twitched a the sight, shaking her head a little. "He's like a mix of dog, cat, and bat."

Hiccup snorted. "You're tellin' me."

Toothless huffed, shooting the two a look.

"Oh, get over, Boo," Hiccup said teasingly, and the dragon huffed again before closing his eyes.

A small pause.

"Why Toothless?" Hiccup asked, "I mean, it's a _training_ academy, and Stormfly was the first trained dragon."

"But Toothless was the first dragon to be ridden, and that's a bit more of an accomplishment..." Astrid trailed off, "You're the only one who had to pay a price for this."

"Astrid-"

"Just use Toothless," She insisted, and Hiccup sighed through his nose before grabbing his charcoal to begin outlining the design.

"Do you want to be a part of the lessons?" Astrid asked.

"You're the teacher, I'm the leader," Hiccup muttered, "You teach."

"Well, I know... but, I figured, with your interest in them, you would want to help teach."

"I'm still learning, too."

"But you're catching up," Astrid continued insisting, "Really fast. You're gonna be a lot better than me at bonding with them, real soon. You have a way with them that even I'm envious of."

"Okay, look," Hiccup sighed, "You plan out the lessons," she opened her mouth to interrupt, but he cut her off, "_You_ plan out the training lessons, and I'll help out with demonstrations and combat lessons and whatnot, alright? And, if there's a lesson you want me to help you with, I'll help you with it. Does that work?"

"Okay," Astrid agreed quietly, her attention back on his drawing. It was beginning to look more and more like the Strike Class insignia in the Book of Dragons, but with a resemblance to Toothless, especially the left tail fin.

"Berk Dragon Academy," Hiccup grinned, giving her one of his 'love taps' on the shoulder, making her grab it with a wince and a pout, "I like the sound of that."

Astrid grinned as well before she leaned forward, pressing her lips against his in a gentle kiss.

_Dragons can't change who they are. And who would want them to?_

_Dragons are powerful, amazing creatures. And, as long as it takes, I am going to learn everything there is to know about them._

_Wouldn't you?_

* * *

**Wow, this chapter has a much higher word count than expected, but that's probably due to the notes.**

**Yeah, so I stole some stuff from the second movie, but I thought it was too hilarious to pass up.**

**Also, is it bad that I love reading fluffy scenes, but hate writing them?**

**1) **_So, I'm trying to make more sense on how Hiccup's prosthetic stayed in place, so I added onto it a little. It's the same exact leg as in canon, but I added two, wide metal clasps that have curved out points on the insides, which hook into some indents on the wooden portion. The clasps hook into the indents, and are attached to each other by two screws on each side. The clasps are directly in the middle, going halfway down the wood and halfway up the leg. The metal clasps are hidden from view by his pant leg, and are given some extra support with the rope he ties around it._

**2) **_For those who may not remember, Grump was introduced in the final chapter of my first story, and is Grobber's dragon from the second movie. Snaptrap is a dark blue, male Deadly Nadder that was kept in the Kill Ring, as opposed to Stormfly; please keep in mind when trying to picture him, that male Nadders are noticeably larger than the females, and they have underbites as opposed to the females overbites, something I discovered from the httyd website on dragons. I got the idea for Snaptrap after watching 'Gift of the Night Fury'; when Hiccup is on the nesting grounds, a Nadder that was a very similar appearance to Stormfly was sitting next to a much larger, dark, dark blue Nadder with an underbite, so, if you want any references, just watch GOTNF and look out for that underbite Nadder._

**3)**_ So, I am completely in love with the way Toothless sleeps upside down. I just think it's the coolest thing ever, so I decided to take away his rock slab and give it to Stormfly, and have my 'verse's Toothless sleep upside down from the rafters in Hiccup's room._

**4)** _There was no such thing as privacy in Viking villages; that was a luxury. It was very normal for three or four or more siblings to share a room, it was normal to see your grown brothers walk around naked during Wash Day or laundry day, and so on. Hiccup, being the heir, is going to have the luxury of a larger house with a separate bedroom, and so is Snotlout, being his cousin, making him a member of the chief's family. As was mentioned in the first story, Astrid's father is the second highest ranking general of the chief's, right below Spitelout, which gives her family enough status in the village to have the luxury of a large house and privacy as well. The twins, who share a room, and Fishlegs, do not have that luxury._

**Okay, so it's super late, as I was determined to get this chapter up at all costs, so I am going to post this and go to bed.**

**I hope you enjoyed the first episode :)**


	2. Animal House

**So, all my previous readers, plus a few new ones, have only faved and followed my story, and only four left me reviews, and, faves and follows are totally awesome, but I'm like, "Where my peeps!?" I got all sad, cuz of the lack of reviews *pouts***

**Anywho, a few people have asked about the characters ages, so, I'm going to leave a little list for you guys:**

**First Movie**

_Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs: 15-16_

_Astrid, Twins: 14-15_

**Series**

_Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs: 16 (first season)-17 (second season)_

_Astrid, Twins: 15 (first season)-16 (second season)_

**Second Movie**

_Hiccup, Snotlout, Fishlegs: 20_

_Astrid, Twins: 19_

**Like I said, the episodes aren't going to be in order, and may not even be in the proper season, so I'll leave a note telling you when the transition has been made.**

**Now, onto the story! :)**

**Disclaimer: I own nothing but the slightly changed plotline (plus, a few dragons)**

**Episode Narrator: Astrid**

* * *

Astrid didn't wake up slowly, nor did she jump awake. Her eyes snapped open, a single, sharp, panicked breath sucking in through both her mouth and nostrils. She panted, her eyes searching the room with in a haste before they landed on Stormfly, the dragon crooning, her yellow eyes sparkling in concern; Snaptrap gave her the same look, his head poked through the window. It was all the dragons could do to comfort her without disturbing their sleeping young, curled up around Stormfly on her rock slab.

Astrid sighed, closing her stinging eyes, attempting to calm herself.

She had been dreaming of The Fall, that horrifying moment where she could only watch helplessly as Hiccup disappeared into the storm of fire below them. Every time she had that nightmare, she woke up, terrified. And then, the terror disappeared, only to be replaced by guilt.

She had been there, on Stormfly, close enough to catch him. But, her clumsiness acted up at the worst possible moment, making her fall from Stormfly's back as she reached out for him, forcing the dragon to catch her with her claws, unable to save Hiccup as well, carrying her rider away from the falling boy.

She hated it, knowing she could've done something to prevent it only to screw it all up.

Astrid sighed again before shifting, sliding out of the bed. She shivered a little; the Freeze had started two days ago, and the weather had been getting colder and colder, and her sleep clothes, a long light blue tunic and a dark pair of leggings, weren't exactly thick enough to keep the cold out.

"Stormfly," She whispered, "Let's go."

Stormfly gurgled, shifting very slowly in a attempt to not wake the babies, succeeding when she finally managed to get out. She nuzzled the three for a brief moment before she followed Astrid outside after the girl threw on her boots.

Astrid usually tried to shake off these dreams by taking a walk or two around the village, or a flight around the island.

It was snowing, lazily and lightly, and she shivered a little whenever a flake landed on any bare skin. Going flying in such cold weather, without her winter clothes, would a bad idea, so she settled for a walk.

She stopped, Stormfly stopping next to her, crooning, and she furrowed her brows in confusion. She stood behind the Haddock House, looking at a small pen that sat directly to the left of the house. Hiccup actually had a pet sheep of his own, a tiny ewe named Tonna; she was the runt of the little, small enough to be concerned for her survival when she was born, small enough to easily pick her out of a herd or flock now. Normally, when the weather got colder, Hiccup and Stoick would set up a small fire outside for her to keep her warm, but there was no fire, and the pen was empty, which was also normal; if the weather got too bad, Hiccup and Stoick would let her inside with them.

But, the weather wasn't bad enough for that, and Astrid wondered if she somehow escaped and ran off; she's just as flighty as her owner.

Curious, Astrid circled the house, searching, before she decided to continue her walk. Somewhere along the way, she ended up at one of the few beaches Berk had around the island. Staring out at the ocean kept her attention away from her feet, and she ended up tripping over something. Stormfly squawked, quickly hopping in front of her for support, keeping the girl from face-planting with the ground.

"Ow, what?" Astrid groaned, annoyed. She glanced down in irritation, but her mood was quenched when she caught sight of the object she tripped over.

She picked up Hiccup's prosthetic, blinking in confusion. The two metal straps were piled on top of each other on the ground, the screws sitting in the middle of them so they wouldn't be lost.

She turned back around the face the ocean, squinting in concentration. "Ah," She muttered, catching sight of a large, black dot in the middle of the waters. She set Hiccup's prosthetic back down before hopping onto Stormfly.

"Stormfly, swim," She said, and the Nadder chirped, making her way into the waters. Astrid quickly lifted her feet, resting them on Stormfly to keep them out of the freezing water.

The closer she got, the clearer her view of Hiccup and Toothless became. They were both bare of their flying gear, and Hiccup was in his sleep clothes, a tan sleeveless tunic and dark brown pants, the legs rolled up so they wouldn't get wet as he let his foot and leg dangle in the water, lying back on Toothless to stare at the sky, his arms resting on his stomach.

The stump of his left leg ended just below the knee, just enough leg left where he could still easily bend it, and it hardly entered the water, just barely dipped below the surface.

"Hiccup," She said when she reached him, and he started a little before turning his head to face her, his brows furrowed in confusion.

His eyes were glazed and unfocused, and she knew he must've had a nightmare as well.

She had thought he was unconscious; he _looked_ unconscious, but she had found out later that he had been in a semi-conscious state, aware enough to have felt the pain of the club tail crush him, tear him from Toothless' back, and send him falling, aware enough to know he was falling to his death in the inferno below him. The last thing he had clearly seen before his vision faded had been her reaching out for him, and, even though his vision had failed him after that, he had still been aware enough to be filled with pain and fear until he and Toothless had hit the ground, and even a little after until he finally passed out some time after the smoke and ash of the Red Death had began fading.

And, contrary to what others believe, he remembers the moment he lost his leg when he had been in that odd state of consciousness. He remembers the pain of the amputation, and he remembers the fear of knowing that he would never be able to run or walk or swim or fly again.

They weren't good memories to have, and they haunted him in his nightmares.

"The cold is just going to make it hurt more," Astrid said in an attempt to keep the subject off their shared night terror.

He simply grunted in response, keeping his eyes on the sky.

"Where's Tonna?" Astrid asked, her tone genuinely curious; not a ploy to change the subject.

"She's in Mulch and Bucket's farm," He answered, "I think she's scared of Toothless; she tries to hide in her pen every time she sees him, or any dragon really."

"Mm," Astrid murmured, leaning back in a more comfortable position on Stormfly. The Nadder may not be able to use her wings to swim, but she could use her feet, so, as long as she wasn't underwater, she was good.

A small pause.

"Are you okay?" She asked hesitantly, and he shifted a little, sighing through his nose.

"I hate that dream," He muttered after a small pause, "All it does is remind me that I'll never be able to swim or run or walk properly again. I won't be able to fight or use my axe like I used to. You know, I used to be able to do a back flip without using my hands? I didn't even need to stand on a rock for higher ground... I'm pissed because that's over now. I can't keep my balance right, I can't swim at all, I've tried, and I can't even walk right anymore."

Astrid worried her lips in thought as Toothless crooned in worry, glancing up at his rider and his mooed, before she directed Stormfly to swim a little closer. She tapped Hiccup's shoulder, and he sat up just as she hopped over the small space between them onto Toothless.

Toothless growled slightly at the added weight as Astrid flailed a little before Hiccup grabbed her and pulled her further onto the dragon, who grunted in acceptance.

"Don't do that," Hiccup muttered as he set her upright, his brows furrowed in irritation.

They shifted around until they found comfortable positions, making Toothless grunt in irritation, and Astrid curled her arms around his right one, leaning her head on shoulder.

"You'll figure it out," She murmured, "All you have to do is wait for it to heal enough for you to be able to practice on it. You just need to relearn all your old moves; practice getting your balance right. Maybe you could focus more on your right leg; land on it first before you set your left leg down. I don't know about swimming, but you should be able to relearn how to fight and use your axe and do a back flip. You just need practice."

Toothless cooed in agreement, trying to look up at his rider, and Hiccup sighed again, letting his head rest on hers, and she felt the tension begin to drain out of him.

"Thank you..." He murmured when he finally relaxed fully, and she let a small smile grace her lips.

* * *

_Here on Berk, we finally made peace with the dragons._

_We're finally living and working together._

_And it only took about... oh, three hundred years._

_There's one slight problem, though... we forgot to tell the animals._

"Oh, not again," Mulch groaned as he and Bucket jogged toward the two arguing dragons, "You go on, now! You get! You shoo! You know you're not supposed to be in here!"

He and Bucket shooed them away, and they snarled and growled, but did as they were told and hopped outside of the fence.

"Alright," He said once the dragons flew off, "Time for everyone to earn their keep." He set a milk bucket under one of the yaks before reaching for her udder with his good hand, while Bucket turned his attention to the chicken coop.

He furrowed his brows in confusion when he saw no eggs. "Um," He said, "It's chickens who lay eggs, right?"

Mulch turned to him, annoyed. "Do we _really_ need to go through this again?"

Bucket glanced around, avoiding his eyes. "No," He mumbled before lifting the sheep beside him, which let out a disgruntled bleat, looking under it for eggs.

Mulch sighed. "Apparently, we do. Pay attention, Bucket," he pointed to the chickens, "Eggs," he pointed to the yaks and goats, "Milk," he pointed to the sheep, "Wool."

"Ah," He said, patting a small sheep that walked up to him, bleating at him with large eyes, leaning into the affectionate touch, "Except for little Tonna here; Hiccup's sheep's not a shearin' sheep. Now, is that so hard?"

Bucket simply stared at him.

Mulch sighed again before walking up to one of the yaks. "Observe, Bucket. You simply grab one of the udders and pull."

Nothing.

"Pull."

Nothing. The yak grunted in annoyance at his rough handling.

"Pull!"

Nothing came out, the yak grunted again before kicking him away.

"Oh, no," Mulch sighed as he pulled himself to his feet, "I think we're empty... that's not good..."

Especially not during the Freeze...

* * *

Astrid and Hiccup laughed and cheered as their respective dragons slid down the snow covered mountains on their stomachs, their wings folded up for speed. Astrid's usual sleeveless shirt was replaced with a long sleeved grey tunic, the end tucked into her fabric skirt so her plaited one could still flow freely without looking odd, and she wore dark wraps around her wrists, which covered her hands, forming mittens. Hiccup wore his usual clothes, though he wore tan wraps that formed mittens as well, and his usual leather vest and boot were replaced with their fur counterparts; his harness was underneath the vest, hooked into Toothless' saddle. **  
**

After a few twists and turns and hops, Astrid glanced back at Hiccup, grinning at the sight of his grin, knowing he needed some release after his confessions on his leg last night, before she patted Stormfly a little. The dragon gurgled before shooting out a volley of spikes at Hiccup, and he and Toothless grunted in surprise before dodging them.

"Hey!" He yelled indignantly, "Astrid!"

"Oops!" Astrid laughed, "Did I do that?"

Hiccup snorted before leaning forward on Toothless, silently telling the dragon to do the same to pick up on speed. The two pulled in ahead of Astrid, and Toothless snickered, lifting up his wing to block Astrid's view. She and Stormfly let out annoyed sounds, ducking and lifting their heads in an attempt to see.

"Hey!" She called, "Not fair!"

Toothless and Hiccup snorted before the dragon lowered his wing, and Astrid let out a startled shout before her face smacked directly into a thin tree branch, thin enough to not do any damage, only leaving a pile of snow in her face.

She wiped the snow away before looking at Hiccup. "So, it's gonna be like that!?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," He smirked, and Toothless let out an amused groan, his eyes twinkling as he looked at her.

Astrid narrowed her eyes, and Stormfly let out a small blast of fire at a small snow formation, causing Hiccup and Toothless to spin out with startled shouts.

"Astrid!"

"It was _her_ idea!" Astrid answered truthfully, "But I approve!"

Hiccup snorted, shaking his head in amusement before he furrowed his brows in confusion, hearing a loud rumble behind him. He turned, his eyes widening at the sight of the avalanche behind him, and he quickly pressed down on the pedal of his stirrup; Toothless attempted to jump into the air, but let out a screech when he simply fell back down. They tried again with the same results, and Hiccup glanced back at the prosthetic fin, which was covered in snow from their descent down the mountain; the cold air must've caused it to freeze over.

"His tail's frozen," He mumbled before he shouted, "Astrid!"

Astrid turned to look, her eyes widening at the sight behind her, and she quickly directed Stormfly into the air. Hiccup removed his prosthetic from the stirrup and unhooked his harness before twisting around on Toothless' back and crawling up his tail. He pulled at the tail fin, attempting to break apart the frozen snow.

"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled when she caught sight of the cliff the two were heading for before she directed Stormfly toward them.

"No, go back!" Hiccup waved her off, but she simply held out a hand. He reached for her, grabbing her hand, but the two went over the cliff, falling from their dragons' backs with screams, their dragons falling with them, and the avalanche followed closely behind.

* * *

"Ow..." Astrid moaned, holding a covered hand to her throbbing head. She glanced around, but everything was pitch black. "Hiccup?"

"I'm here," She heard him say.

"It's freezing," She muttered, her breathing shaking from the cold air.

"Come here," He said, and she scooted over until she was sitting next to him, and they wrapped their arms together to share their body warmth.

"Where're the dragons?" Just as the words left his mouth, the area they were in was suddenly illuminated purple for a brief moment.

"Toothless?"

The area glowed orange.

"Stormfly?"

The colors continued flashing until their dragon's fire blasted a hole over the snow roof, allowing the light from the day sky to completely brighten the area.

"Hey," Hiccup muttered as the dragons crooned and gurgled, smiling at them, their wings flared out to protect them from the snow, "Look what they did."

"They saved our lives," Astrid said, and she and Hiccup shared a smile.

* * *

"Ah, mmhm," Gobber mumbled as he worked at the disgruntled yak's udder with his good hand before he gave up, "Yup, just as I thought. She's not givin' milk. None of them are."

"We _know_ that, Gobber," Stoick muttered, his tone slightly irritated, paying little attention to Tonna as the miniature sheep tried to keep as close as possible to him, rubbing against his legs, "We want to know _why._"

Gobber gave a humorous grin. "This reminds me of the time I moved my mother in with my goat. She was mean and ate everything in sight. The goat was so scared of her, she didn't give milk."

"And... that means...?" Stoick encouraged.

"Mothers and goats don't mix," Gobber said, "Same with farm animals and dragons. We stopped fighting dragons, so now they're around all the time," he pointed to a snoozing Grump, three sheep piled against each other against the fence to get as far away from him as possible, bleating fearfully, "The animals are spooked."

The two glanced over at the sound of pain filled groans, catching sight of Bucket clutching his head.

"Oh, you're bucket's not tightening up again, is it?" Mulch asked.

"No, I'm just FINE!" He howled over the last word, clutching his head tighter.

"You know, whenever his bucket tightens up like this, there's gonna be a storm," Mulch explained.

"No," Bucket muttered quickly, "No storm. Everything's fine."

Stoick and Gobber shared a glance.

"Bucket," Mulch said in a warning tone.

"I don't _want_ there to be a storm," Bucket said, "If lightning strikes my bucket, I could end up less intelligent!"

Mulch attempted to shift the bucket, but it was too tight to move at all. "Oh, that's one tight bucket! And the tighter the bucket, the bigger the storm."

"That's crazy," Stoick said, "It's only a week into the Freeze; storm's don't hit this early."

"And besides," Gobber added, "Who ever heard of predicting a storm with a bucket? That's what chicken bones and goose feet are for."

"If you recall, this bucket o' his predicted the Blizzard of Olaf," Mulch said.

"Oh, that was a bad one," Bucket said, "It took us a week to dig Mildew out."

"And the rest of our lives to wonder why we bothered," Gobber grumbled.

"Trust the bucket, Stoick," Mulch added.

"_You_ trust the bucket," Stoick said, "I want a second opinion."

* * *

Gothi weaved her way around her Terror flock as they bounced around her house, adding onto her pile of sand bags, preparing for the storm to come.

Normally, she would be annoyed that her great-grandson skipped out on this morning's therapy session, but it gave her plenty of time to prepare.

Her Terror flock suddenly scattered, reacting to the sound of her door slamming open, and she rolled her eyes in annoyance at Stoick and Gobber's impatience as they hobbled out onto her porch.

"Gothi," Stoick greeted, "An issue has been brought up, and I've come for your counsel. Is there going to be a storm coming soon?"

Gothi took her attention away from her sand bags, grabbing her staff and writing on the small pile of sand she keeps on her porch for communicating with visitors. Her daughter used to be the only one who understood her drawing, but she taught her daughter-in-law, Valka, who, in turn, taught Gobber; a good thing, too, as no one in the village would understand her otherwise, aside from Hiccup, who began to pick up on her writing when he was younger, though he's still learning.

"She says..." Gobber started, his eyes squinted in concentration, "'What do you think?' Huh?"

Gothi rolled her eyes in irritation; she should've known these pig-headed men wouldn't notice anything. She used her staff, pointing at her storm prepared house, and they glanced around at the sand bags and bolted doors and windows.

"How can you be sure?" Stoick asked, "The chicken bones? The goose feet?"

Gothi rolled her eyes again before she started writing.

"She says," Gobber translated, "She could hear Bucket screamin' from all the way up here."

Stoick glanced between them, his eyes full of disbelief.

* * *

"And then the dragons used their wings to block the snow," Hiccup grinned. He and Astrid were seated next to each other, Toothless and Stormfly behind them, facing Snotlout and Fishlegs, underneath one of the old catapults as they told them what happened during the avalanche.

Fishlegs was also in winter clothes, though not much changed for him; his leather tunic was replaced with his old fur one, and so were his boots, and he wore a sleeved tunic underneath the fur one, as well as mittens.

Snotlout, however, remained in his usual clothes, shivering.

"I've never heard of anything like that," Fishlegs said enthusiastically, "Not even in the Book of Dragons."

"It was incredible," Astrid said, "It was like their protective instincts just kicked in."

"Who'd believe it?" Hiccup added, "The dragons we've fought for years came to out rescue."

"Yeah, if it weren't for them," Astrid said, "We would've frozen to death."

"You know what, you could've used your bodies to keep each other warm," Fishlegs said.

Astrid and Hiccup glanced at each other before pursing their lips and clearing their throats, and Stormfly and Toothless snorted.

"Hey, Astrid, if you're still cold..." Snotlout said, extending his arms and making a kissing sound.

Astrid curled her lips, while Hiccup narrowed his eyes at him. Hiccup lifted an elbow and thwacked the catapult's base, causing the snow to fall over Snotlout, covering him completely.

"Hey!" He cried, his voice muffled.

"Hey, Hiccup," Everyone glanced down at the sound of Tuffnut's voice, catching sight of the twins as they dismounted their dragon. The two were also in winter clothes; the only differences, though, were Ruffnut's mittens and the sleeved tunic underneath her vest as opposed to her sleeveless one, as well as Tuffnut's mittens, and the sleeves he wore underneath his short-sleeved vest.

"You're father's looking for you," He added, grinning.

"Yeah," Ruffnut snickered, "He looked angry."

"He's looked angry since the day I was born," Hiccup deadpanned as he mounted Toothless, hooking his harness and prosthetic into place, "But, I'm sure there's no connection."

"I'll go with you," Astrid said, hopping onto Stormfly, and the four took off.

Ruffnut glanced over at Snotlout, who was holding his arms and shivering, now free of the snow pile.

She gave him a look that was a mixture of amusement and annoyance. "Why don't you put on your winter clothes?" Maybe he wasn't doing it because a lot of the adults weren't... but, those were veterans that probably went to war during the Freeze, not some kid.

"Pshh," Snotlout snorted, his teeth chattering, "_Please._ Only you wusses need winter clothes. _I_, however, do not."

Hookfang snorted behind him before lighting up, and Snotlout sighed in relief at the warmth, relaxing with a grin, and Ruffnut rolled her eyes.

* * *

"There's a bad storm comin'," Stoick said as he paced around the main room of the Haddock Hall, which was filled with Stormfly, Toothless, Astrid, Hiccup, and Gobber, as well as Tonna, who attempted to mold herself with Hiccup, curling between his legs as she stared fearfully at the two dragons, "We could be locked in... we might not be able to hunt or fish for months."

"But it's way too early for a storm," Hiccup said, "We're in the middle of winter. Devastating winter isn't due for another month." Astrid shot him a look, but he simply reached down to pet Tonna in an attempt to calm her.

"Not according to your grandma," Stoick said.

"What am I supposed to do?" Hiccup said, exasperated, "I can't control the weather!"

"No, but you can control dragons," Stoick said, "If they don't stop scaring the animals, we don't have any provisions to live on. And I doubt Tonna would want to stay here, either."

Just as he finished his sentence, the front door opened, and Bucket, Mulch, Cnut, and Thora entered. Thora tossed an empty bucket at Stoick, who easily caught it.

"Empty," She said, "And this after yankin' on that poor yak for three hours."

Mulch and Stoick gave Hiccup and Astrid expectant looks, and Astrid backed up against Stormfly, patting her. "But it's not like the dragons are trying to be scary. I mean, they don't even eat farm animals, they eat fish!"

"True," Thora said, "But, they're huge, breath fire, and, now that we've made peace with them, _everywhere._"

"The animal's are terrified of them," Cnut added.

"This is the part where you say, 'I'll fix this'," Stoick said, looking at Hiccup.

"Okay..." Hiccup sighed, "But how long do we have until the storm hits?"

"'Bout a week," Mulch said.

"Oh, no problem," Astrid grinned, "More than enough time."

Bucket suddenly moaned and clutched his head.

"Correction," Mulch said, "Three days and six hours."

Astrid's eyes widened, and she scratched her head with her covered hand nervously, "Okay, less time... might be more of a problem."

* * *

A light snow was starting to fall as Hiccup attempted to herd a struggling yak over to Hookfang and Stormfly, who stared back at the animals curiously. An overcast was shadowing the Academy, which had yet to be used; the first lesson wasn't meant to start until the end of the week, which may not happen due to the blizzard. The others were filed into the Academy as well, along with their respective dragons, watching as Hiccup and Astrid struggled with the moaning yak.

"Come on, big boy, you can do it," Hiccup grunted, pulling clumsily as he tried to keep weight off his left leg, "You'll like them if you get to know them."

"The dragons look scary, but they're just big, scaly reptiles," Astrid tried, her tone much more comforting than Hiccup's.

"Just like Snotlout," Tuffnut snickered, and Snotlout fumed, snatching the twin up the front of his shirt, straight off the ground, and holding up a fist. He suddenly stopped, looking the twin up and down before he lifted him higher, tightening his fist as he looked at him through narrowed eyes.

"You're the guy, right?" Snotlout asked, his tone threatening, and Tuffnut glanced around for a moment before answering.

"No," He said in a high-pitched voice, and Ruffnut crossed her arms, giving him a glare at the poorly copied voice.

Hookfang and Stormfly suddenly snapped at each other, and the animals scattered in fright, running as far away as possible from the dragons surrounding them.

"Okay, what if we looked at this from an animal's perspective," Fishlegs tried before lowering himself onto all fours, crawling around the dragons, "Oh, hello, Mr. Dragon, I'm just a little sheep here, walking, doing sheep things, b-a-a-h."

Tonna slid against Hiccup's right leg, bleating, her face totally unimpressed.

"B-a-a-h," Fishlegs continued, not noticing the way Hookfang narrowed his eyes at the sound of his bleating, "You know, he doesn't really seem so-" He looked at Hookfang, who roared in his face, and he yelped, scrambling underneath Meatlug for protection. "Sorry, but I'm siding with the sheep on this," He whimpered.

"Oh, Fishlegs," Astrid sighed, covering her face with a single, mitten-hand.

"Look, I've learned that once you've had a positive experience with something you're afraid of, then it isn't so scary anymore. C'mon, Tonna," Hiccup said before bending down to pick up Tonna with both arms, walking towards Hookfang and Stormfly, and the sheep bleated, attempting to curl up in Hiccup's arms as far away from the dragons as possible. Hiccup kneeled, setting Tonna down, and the ewe huddled against him, bleating, but Hiccup gently pushed her away, making her face them before he stood, taking his attention off of them.

"And that's what we're going to do with the animals," He continued; behind him, Hookfang began sniffing the cowering Tonna curiously, "We need to show them that they have nothing to fear-"

Hookfang sneezed, a weak flame shooting from his nose and hitting Tonna, causing the sheep's wool to go up in flames, and she immediately ran off. Hiccup and Astrid ran to help; Astrid caught her, holding her still as Hiccup quickly patted the fire out.

Tonna bleated, huddling against Hiccup, looking at him with pleading eyes, and Astrid groaned.

"At this rate, we'll never get any milk or eggs," She said.

* * *

"Another way for the animals to overcome their fear is to show them that the dragons are scared of things, too," Astrid said to the rather unimpressed looking Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout; Fishlegs, however, seemed debatable.

"Remember Magnus the Merciless?" Hiccup said, attempting to calm Tonna down while she bleated frightfully as Toothless sniffed at her curiously, trying to curl against the kneeling Hiccup, "He was a pretty scary guy."

Fishlegs made a sound of agreement, shuttering a little.

"I was afraid of him," Hiccup continued as he pet and scratched Tonna, "Until I learned he was afraid of the dark."

Tuffnut snorted. "So, during the day, Merciless," He smirked, waving his hands in front of him dramatically.

"And during the night, Tuffnut," Ruffnut said, gesturing to Tuffnut, who gave her an indignant look.

"Hey!" He yelled, pushing her, making her snicker, "That's a real problem!"

Hiccup rolled his eyes as Tonna huddled even closer to him, shooing Toothless off so she could calm down a little. "I'm just saying that knowing he was afraid of something made him not seem so frightening to me."

"Exactly," Astrid said, pulling out a pair of eels from the basket, "So, let's show the yaks that dragons are afraid of things, too."

She walked in front of BarfBelch and Hookfang, and then held up the eels. The dragons shrieked, cowering away, and the yaks brayed, glancing between the herd members curiously.

"Hey, I think it's actually working," Ruffnut grinned, and Astrid returned it... until an eel slipped from her hand and slithered toward the dragons. They panicked, and Hookfang accidentally thwacked a sheep clear across the Academy in an attempt to flee.

Tonna bleated at the sight, borrowing herself further against Hiccup, who groaned.

Astrid held her head in her hands, and Ruffnut placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry."

"Worry?" Astrid said, her tone panicked, "I'm not worried. Do I look worried?"

Lightning flashed through the sky, signaling that the storm was getting closer, and the falling snow began to pick up more.

* * *

"Where are you going!?" Snotlout hollered, trying to herd Hookfang into place.

"Quiet down!" Ruffnut grunted as she and her brother pushed at BarfBelch.

"Calm down," Hiccup muttered, lining Toothless up, and the dragon's eyes expanded when he realized the eels were placed back in the basket, "Get back over here."

Tonna bleated in fright, and Hiccup sighed, walking back over to her in an attempt to prevent any heart attacks, while Astrid sighed, setting a pair of calming chickens back on the ground.

"You know what I'm learning from all this?" She said, her tone annoyed, "Chickens are really... chicken."

"Ya think?" Hiccup muttered as Tonna burrowed into him again.

"What if we showed them how much they have in common with the dragons?" Fishlegs smiled, and the others stared at him, wondering if it was time to send him off to Hysteria.** [1]**

"They both lay eggs, right?" Fishlegs continued, pulling an egg from one of the Terror nests kept in the Academy; they were going to have to move those before the classes started, Astrid thought. "A Terrible Terror laid one last week," Fishlegs said, setting the small egg down in front of the chickens.

The chickens looked at the egg with interest for a moment before one hopped onto it.

"Alright, see?" Astrid grinned, "An egg's an egg, right, girls?"

Suddenly, the egg glowed red before erupting in an echoing explosions, sending the chickens flying. Astrid stared in disbelief before glancing up in surprise when something landed on her head, catching sight of a smiling, gurgling Terror hatchling looking down at her.

"Until it explodes," Hiccup muttered as he walked up to her, Tonna following close behind, and Astrid picked up the baby dragon, letting it curl up in her arms, and Snotlout snickered.

"Hey, Astrid," He said as he walked up beside her, looking at the baby dragon, "Remember during Snoggletog when you- OW! Ow, ow, ow!" He cried when Hiccup punched his arm before giving him a good pinch, using his fingernails so it could be felt through his mittens, and Astrid glanced around when she noticed the snow was beginning to pick up again.

They glanced over when Gobber and Cnut suddenly entered the Academy. "Everyone out!" Gobber bellowed, "The storm is here!"

"Wait, we haven't made any progress with the animals!" Astrid cried as she set the Terror hatchling back in the nest Fishlegs took it from, and the mother immediately curled around it.

"Stoick wants everyone in the Great Hall," Gobber said, herding the animals out of the Academy.

"But, the animals are still afraid," Astrid, said, "We still need time to work with them."

"Ya can't get eggs from a frozen chicken!" Gobber shouted, "We have to get the animals into the barn!"

* * *

"So much for the barn," Cnut muttered as Gobber stared in disbelief at the snow-buried barn; there was no way to get into it, the snow covered it completely.

"There's no other place to hold them," Ruffnut said.

"The Great Hall," Hiccup suggested.

"We're going to have dragons and animals under the same roof?" Cnut asked incredulously.

"We've got no other choice," Astrid said, "Let's go."

* * *

Shouts of encouragement kept the animals and dragons moving forward as everyone herded them toward the Great Hall through the heavy snow.

Suddenly, lightning struck quite closely, startling Stormfly into releasing some spikes, which, in turn, caused Hookfang to light up in surprise, scaring the animals off toward the woods.

"Hey, I've got this under control," Snotlout said smugly, holding up his hands as if they could stop the stampede, and he was immediately trampled by a yak, with many following suit, and he released a few "Ow's!"

"Okay," He groaned, clutching his back, "Everything hurts."

Fishlegs was knocked over by some panicking yaks, and a few sheep trampled him, along with Ruffnut as she tried to catch them, only to have a chicken get thrown onto her face.

Hiccup launched himself at Tonna as she ran off in a panic, missing and falling face first in the snow. "Tonna!" He yelled as she continued to run. He groaned, hobbling to his feet and mounting Toothless.

"Where are you goin'?" Gobber shouted over the blizzard.

"I'm going after them," Hiccup said as he hooked his prosthetic into place; his harness was left at the Academy, but he'd have to worry about it later.

"Forget it, Hiccup," Gobber said, "You'll never round them up in this storm."

"With Toothless, I can," Hiccup insisted, and Toothless trilled in agreement.

"No, you're father would kill me if I left you out here!" Gobber hollered.

"Sorry, Gobber," Hiccup said just as Toothless took to the air.

"Come back here!" Gobber shouted, "Astrid, will you talk some sense into, no, no, no, not you, too! Astrid! You're not goin', ugh, get back here! All of you!"

Gobber watched as the teens took off, completely gobsmacked.

* * *

"Find as many as you can!" Hiccup ordered, yelling over the snow, "We'll herd them back to the Great Hall!"

"Can we swing by my house?" Fishlegs shouted, rubbing his arms in an attempt to warm up, the tunic and mittens not doing much against the heavy storm, "I'd like to get my heavy coat!"

"Hey," Tuffnut laughed to Ruffnut, "I'm so cold, I can't feel my face!"

Ruffnut smirked, giving him a good slap. He shook his head out before grinning at her. "Nope! Didn't feel it!"

"That takes all the fun out of it!" Ruffnut snickered.

"There they are!" Hiccup shouted, "Come on!"

They quickly flew over the flock of mixed animals, herding them as best as they could.

"Yaks to left!" Fishlegs called out.

"Chickens!" Snotlout hollered, "To the right!" Hookfang sped past Fishlegs, causing Meatlug to spin a little in surprise.

"Hey!" Snotlout yelled at them, "I'm flyin' here!"

"Chickens!" He yelled at the fleeing fouls, "Over here! This way!" As if they understood him perfectly, and would follow his every direction. Hookfang's eyes suddenly widened, and he attempted to fly off, but Snotlout kept him in place.

"What're you-AH!" Snotlout shouted in surprise when the two smacked right into a tree.

"Hey sheep!" Fishlegs yelled, herding the sheep quite successfully, "This way! B-a-a-h! Hey, it's working!"

Until he tried to fly under a fallen tree, causing him and Meatlug to get stuck. He dead panned a "bah," annoyed at himself.

"I've got it!" Astrid yelled, flying over the tree. She herded the sheep into a single group before ordering Stormfly to use her tail spikes, successfully caging the sheep in.

Until Snotlout and Hookfang clumsily flew by, knocking the makeshift fence over.

"Snotlout!" Astrid yelled as Hookfang flew haphazardly, making Snotlout scream, "What're you doing!? You're all over the place!"

"You try herding sheep with a dragon that doesn't listen to you!" Snotlout yelled back.

Astrid shook her head in annoyance before calling out to the black blur ahead of her. "Hiccup! Stray sheep!"

Hiccup and Toothless quickly flew past her in search of the sheep, which were attempting to run around a thin mountain corner. The smallest of the sheep suddenly slipped, sliding down the mountain with a high-pitched bleat of fear.

"Tonna!" Hiccup yelled, and Toothless immediately ducked downward as the ewe fell from the cliff. He quickly caught her, holding her close with his claws, and the sheep looked up, bleating in surprise.

Toothless looked down at her, giving her a crooked grin.

He held her out with his claws, and Hiccup leaned over and reached down, picking her up and setting her in front of him, holding her steady. She bleated up at him with wide eyes, and he gave her a small pat before doing the same to Toothless. "Good job, bud." Toothless grunted happily.

"Hiccup!" He glanced over at Astrid's shout, "The storm's getting worse! I can't see anything!"

"Give us some light," Hiccup ordered, and Toothless shot out a plasma blast, illuminating the area for a brief moment.

"Stray yak!" Astrid yelled when she caught sight of two shadows illuminated by Toothless' blast, "Twelve o' clock!"

"I see them! And they are _huge!_" Tuffnut yelled as he and his sister steered BarfBelch toward the yaks. The Zippleback extended his claws, successfully catching the two yaks.

"I got the yaks," Tuffnut said proudly, only to freeze at the voice that answered him.

"Put me down!" Stoick yelled, "Right! Now!"

Tuffnut and Ruffnut shared an 'oops' look before letting BarfBelch drop Gobber and Stoick. Stoick managed to land on his feet, but Gobber wasn't so lucky, falling face first next to a yak.

Gobber shook the snow off before lifting himself up on his hands and knees, the pose very yak-like with his horned helmet, especially when compared to the yak right next to him. "Do I look like a yak to you!?" He huffed, and the yak beside him gave an unimpressed bray.

Everyone quickly landed and dismounted their dragons. Hiccup set Tonna down, and she quickly ran off to join the other sheep, and he limped over to his waiting father.

"You shouldn't be out here, Hiccup," Stoick scolded, "Now come on. I'm taking you back."

"Which way?" Gobber hollered.

"Follow yer tracks!" Stoick yelled, gesturing with his arm, only to stare in disbelief at the clean snow, the tracks completely covered by the blizzard.

"So much for that idea," Snotlout muttered.

"What do we do now?" Fishlegs asked.

Stoick glanced around, the teens hugging themselves and shivering quite a bit, especially Snotlout without his winter clothes.

"Come together," He ordered, and everyone obliged, forming a circle in an attempt to share their body heat. Toothless released a sound as he looked at the shivering group before he glanced around, catching the eyes of the other dragons, and they all formed a circle around the group, spreading their wings to protect them from the wind and snow.

"What are they doin'?" Stoick asked.

"They're protecting us," Hiccup said knowingly.

"It's their natural instinct," Astrid smiled, and Hiccup smiled back.

Hookfang suddenly shot out a blast of fire in the middle of the group, the Nightmare's flammable saliva causing the flame to stick to the ground, and Stormfly, using the hottest fire in world, immediately added in a blast of her own to heat up the flames.

Toothless' right ear twitched at the sound of a familiar bleat, catching sight of Tonna huddled together with a small group of sheep. Toothless immediately ran towards them, and the sheep, minus Tonna, quickly scrambled away. Tonna bleated a little, looking up at him, and he used his head to gently herd her forward.

She looked up, staring at the group of dragons and people illuminated by the fire in the middle, and her large eyes landed on Hiccup, who smiled at her in encouragement.

She began walking forward, bleating loudly as she did in order to catch the attention of the other animals. Toothless quickly hopped over her, re-taking his previous position with the group. Tonna walked by him, looking around warily for a moment before she caught sight of Hiccup, who knelt down and held open his arms, and she bleated loudly again to gain more attention before running towards her owner and burrowing against him.

The other animals hesitantly walked toward the group, following in her encouragement, and the circle was suddenly filled with farm animals. Toothless crooned, and Tonna glanced up at him before leaving Hiccup's arms in favor of curling against the dragon.

"Your dragons are really somethin'," Stoick muttered, glancing around the circle.

"Yeah," Astrid mumbled, grinning at the sight before her.

* * *

The next morning, the dragons shook off the snow that had piled from their backs, and everyone quickly got to work, herding the animals back toward the village. They made the long trek back to the Great Hall, and cheers surrounded them when they entered the large area.

"They're back," Thora sighed in relief at the sight of her daughter.

"The animals are back, too," Bucket said cheerfully as the farm animals quickly filed into the Hall.

"Ah, and here's the dragons," Mulch muttered as Hookfang walked inside, releasing a small roar before he knelt down, allowing the three sheep on his wing to hop off.

"Well, would ya look at that," Cnut mumbled, impressed.

"Hey!" Snotlout shouted, gaining everyone's attention, and Astrid held up her right hand, her other arm occupied by a chicken.

"The chickens are laying eggs again!" She yelled, and more cheers surrounded them as all the animals flocked around the Hall, some curling up with dragons.

Astrid glanced around, smiling in relief at the sight of Stormfly with Snaptrap and the babies; she knew dragons could survive extreme weather, but she was unsure if the young would be able to do so.

Tonna bleated, huddling against Toothless, who crooned, and Astrid and Hiccup shared a grin at the sight, happy that the boy could have his pet back instead of having to keep her at Mulch's.

"C'mon," Astrid mumbled, guiding Hiccup to take a seat at a table before kneeling in front of him, "Let's check that leg."

_We made peace with the dragons when we saw that we could trust them_

_Turns out, they actually have instincts to protect us. All of us._

_And life on berk just got a little warmer._

* * *

**Yay, chapter 2 :)**

**I got the idea for Tonna from my own pet sheep, a miniature cheviot sheep named, guess what, Tonna. She's super adorable; she has huge eyes, and she'll cuddle with you, and curl up with you, and follow you around, and she's just awesome, so I put her in my story.**

**1) **_Hysteria is an island from the books; it's where they send those who have been deemed mad or insane_

**So, I put this episode up before 'Viking For Hire,' because it just makes more sense to me, having to worry about integrating the dragons in with the people and animals before getting Gobber a new job, so... yeah, hope you enjoyed :)**


	3. Viking For Hire

**In this one, Stoick and Hiccup finally have a much needed talk... see, I know Stoick and Hiccup love each other very much, but with everything that happened between them, I feel like Hiccup forgave him a bit too easily (especially considering Stoick actually struck him in my 'verse), and that the two really need to talk and release all their bottled up hurt and anger before they can have a healthy relationship (which, I tell myself, happened offscreen), and that's what I'm hoping to accomplish in this chapter, so let me know if I did good :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly changed plotline.**

**Episode Narrator: Hiccup**

* * *

_Everybody needs a place in the world._

_Some people are born into theirs._

_Some people discover theirs._

_Some people make a place for themselves._

_But, then the world around them changes, and the place they made is gone._

Today was the first day of the newly opened Dragon Academy classes; the Terror farms had been moved in with Elder Gothi, who seemed to love the dragon species more than anything, and the Freeze was beginning to calm, melting the snow and allowing the Berk teens to wear their usual gear as opposed to their winter clothes. Currently, said teens and their dragons were occupying the arena, and Astrid, the co-head of the Academy, was teaching her first (official) lesson to the other five riders. Their dragons were taking this opportunity to snooze behind their respective riders as the lesson went on.

Astrid stood next to a writing board, holding up Hiccup's borrowed notebook _(due to his enthusiasm, she had given control of the Book of Dragons to him, so he was the one who took most of the notes)_, scratching out tallies for each team with her white chalk. She had decided to give a pop quiz before officially teaching, wanting to know where her lessons should actually start, making a competition out of it. She had divided the other five riders into teams; Hiccup, the other Academy co-head, was on a team with Fishlegs, while Snotlout and the twins made up the other team. Uneven, but it was fair considering who poor Ruffnut had to work with.

"Every dragon has it's own unique abilities that gives it a special place in the world," Astrid began, "Which dragon makes the best welding torch?"

"Oh!" Hiccup spat out enthusiastically, "Deadly Nadder!" Of course, he easily knew due to both his enthusiasm with dragons, and the fact that his girlfriend owned a Deadly Nadder of her own.

"It's magnesium flame burns with the heat of the sun," Fishlegs explained, an enthusiastic smile of his own etched onto his face.

Astrid smiled, adding another set of tallies to the board behind her. "Correct. Point to Team Hiccup," She said. The other team slumped behind their desk, looking far less impressed, especially Ruffnut, who looked more annoyed than anything. "Score is now one hundred to ten," Astrid added as she set the chalk down.

Hiccup smirked. "And you started with ten." He and Fishlegs shared a snicker, casting the annoyed Ruffnut an amused glance; she promptly returned it with quite a rude gesture.

"Oh, yeah?" Tuffnut challenged, "Well, the game's not over yet!"

A small pause.

"Wait," He continued, "What team am I on?"

Ruffnut gave him an annoyed, deadpan stare, and he lifted his hands defensively. "What? We're all uneven!" He defended, "I feel like an extra or something!"

"You _are_ an extra," Ruffnut growled, fed up.

Astrid cleared her throat, attempting to dissuade the upcoming fight by continuing the quiz. "Next question," She said, deciding the give Tuffnut an easy one; Ruffnut's team was having issues only due to the fact that the boys didn't give her a chance to answer, "What is the shot limit of a Hideous Zippleback? Team Ruffnut?"

Ruffnut gave a relieved smirk, but Hiccup simply snorted. "I don't think they can count that high," He snickered, and Astrid shot him a look that went ignored.

"Oh, really?" Ruffnut jeered, though she knew the comment was truthful when it came to her brother, "Well, let's find out. Barf!" Barf's head poked up from behind her.

"Belch!" Tuffnut called, and Belch's head rose as well, and the twins gave the dragon the signal to fire.

Fishlegs and Hiccup quickly ducked behind their desk, avoiding the shots of fire that left soot on the wall behind them.

"Looks like it's about three," Tuffnut said, and Ruffnut glared, giving him a good smack on the arm.

"It's six, you idiot!" She glowered, and Astrid sighed, her expression flat as she put ten tally marks onto their team's side of the board.

"It's six," She said, "And I'm just going to be nice and take Ruff's answer. Ten points."

"Yeah!" Tuffnut cheered, sharing a high five with Snotlout behind the annoyed Ruffnut's back, "We're up to thirty!"

Ruffnut groaned, face-planting against the desk.

Hiccup and Fishlegs rose from behind their desks, and Hiccup, his expression annoyed, pinched out a stray bang that had been singed by BarfBelch's fire.

"Alright, it's our turn," He growled, "What happens when you shoot fire at the owner of a Night Fury?" He whistled, and, on cue, Toothless rose to his feet, releasing a single roar before he charged up a blast, creating a familiar whistle, and Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout were blown into the wall behind them when Toothless' plasma blast obliterated their desk. They landed haphazardly, smoking, their expressions dazed and their helmets askew.

Hiccup gave a satisfied smirk, giving Toothless a pat, who growled happily at him in return.

"Hey, no fair!" Tuffnut shouted as he sat up, "He didn't give us a chance to answer!" Ruffnut shot him an irritant glance.

Snotlout, in an attempt to one up his cousin, quickly hopped to his feet, straightened out his helmet, and walked towards Hookfang. "I got a question," He sneered, "What happens when I sick Hookfang on you?"

Astrid quickly intervened; she and Hiccup had an Academy to run, and she didn't need punches being thrown, especially by her co-head. Besides, while the twins were entertaining when punches were thrown, the same couldn't be said for Hiccup and Snotlout; when they got into it, it was never pretty, especially considering how easily Hiccup could throttle his older cousin.

"Alright!" She said quickly, "That's enough for today, guys, good job." Luckily, Hiccup didn't appear to be in the mood for a fight, either; probably because he had physical therapy later, and he limped over to her to help her pack away.

Unfortunately, Snotlout had different plans. "Prepare to face some Monstrous Nightmares!" He bellowed, settling himself onto Hookfang before giving the dragon a small pat on the jaw. Hookfang's eyes snapped open, looking quite distressed, and he roared, lighting up, burning Snotlout in the process.

Snotlout let out a few shouts as he sprinted toward a trough, Hookfang roaring a few more times before he put himself out, hobbling away with a few whimpers. Snotlout leaped into the trough, the flames dousing with a hiss. "Ahhhh," He sighed happily, "Sweet relief."

Hiccup snorted as Astrid handed him his notebook, and the two walked _(or, limped in his case)_ over to him, glancing at Hookfang curiously; the dragon whimpered a little bit before laying down, his pupils dilating slightly, rubbing the side of his snout against the ground.

"Hookfang never flames up when you're riding him," She said, concerned, "Is he okay?" Snotlout, however, was paying little attention, more concerned with making sure his backside wasn't burning.

"Maybe he just realized who his owner is," Hiccup smirked, shifting his weight to his right foot, and Snotlout glanced up at Astrid.

"There's room in here for two," He leered, and Astrid glared at him. Hiccup suddenly clutched his shoulder, shoving him under the water before limping off, wiping his hand on the side of his shirt, and Astrid quickly followed as Snotlout surfaced, sputtering.

* * *

Astrid grumbled as she trekked through the woods, Stormfly following close behind, sniffing around. She was searching for Hiccup, who, apparently, decided it was okay to skip out on physical therapy again.

The two had gone to the plaza after they left the Academy, only to witness Gobber's spectacle. Astrid wasn't sure if she should cringe at the man's bad luck or cringe at the fact that she inadvertently caused it. Gobber didn't have to stop working at the forge; Vikings were always going to need new weapons and weapon care, but, with the Raids over with, business was much, much slower than it used to be, and the man needed something to live on. Gobber's no fool; just a bit silly, and he couldn't help it if he couldn't find a secondary use for the weapons he was so used to creating, nor could he help the fact that Bertha had chose that moment to malfunction. And poor Grump didn't help matters when he sneezed, obliterating what was left of Gobber's already destroyed table.

After listening to Mildew's sneering, Hiccup took off _(or, so she thought)_ to his great-grandmother's for physical therapy, but, she had just found out from Stoick, who was looking for him, that he had skipped out.

Again.

"Stupid, stubborn-Ah!" Astrid grumbled under her breath, cutting herself off with a surprised shout when her foot got caught in a tree root, and Stormfly quickly caught her before her face became friends with the dirt.

"Thanks, girl," Astrid muttered, shaking off her leg in an annoyed manner. She and Stormfly glanced over at the sound of grunting, and Astrid pursed her lips, figuring Hiccup was overworking himself on his leg again, before following the sound. She had tripped right at the entrance to the Cove, and Astrid figured Hiccup chose to go down there to train.

And she was right. She watched as she made her way into the Cove, noticing Toothless keeping a close eye on him, as well as his trademark axe leaning against a large rock, as Hiccup planted his foot and peg firmly into the ground, testing the balance of each foot before tensing up and jumping. She saw Toothless tense up, preparing to help if he needed to, as Hiccup managed to do a perfect back flip, without using his hands. He landed on his right foot first, stumbling as his left leg came down, making Toothless tense up further, before he shakily balanced himself again.

He caught his breath before he gave Toothless a satisfied grin, and the dragon returned it with a gummy smile, trilling.

"Hiccup," Astrid said, and he glanced up at her, his eyes exhilarated, elated that he would be able to do all the things he loved _(aside from swim; that metal leg wouldn't catch the water properly, and it would rust up terribly)_, even with an improper leg.

"Hey," He answered, hobbling over to her clumsily, his leg completely overworked.

"Hey," She said back, her tone annoyed, "You skipped physical therapy. _Again._"

"_This_ is physical therapy," He grumbled, letting Toothless help him lower to the ground next to the large pond. Astrid rolled her eyes, taking a seat next to him as he unhooked his leg, setting the metal pieces, the peg aside, and rope aside, and pulling off the wraps he began wearing around the stump to ease the friction. She shooed Stormfly away when the dragoness began sniffing at the prosthetics before scooting over to check his leg for herself.

The stump ended below the knee, with just enough leg left to allow him to bend his leg when walking, and the skin rippled where it had been folded over the leg bone and cauterized. The scar tissue was incredibly thick, Astrid felt as she checked it over. His leg was red with soreness and swollen from overexertion, but it was not blistered or bleeding, so that was good.

"It _could_ be considered physical therapy," She said as she took out the white salve from her medical pouch, scooping some up onto her fingers before she began spreading it along his stump, "But it's not the kind of physical therapy you need right now. Your leg has to heal a little more before you start training like this."

Hiccup simply tilted his head back in annoyed exasperation, sick of being treated like glass, especially by her.

She ignored his movement. "You need your grandma's physical therapy. You can't just skip out all the time," She said, wiping the salve off and putting the cup back inside her pouch.

"I can't go to physical therapy," He grumbled, "Not when I'm trying to get out of chiefing."

Astrid squinted as she found a place beside him. "What?"

"My dad makes me take chief lessons," He said slowly, "And I don't want to go. I can't avoid him when I go to therapy because he shows up right after to take me chiefing with him."

"Oh..." Astrid mumbled, pursing her lips nervously. Stoick and Hiccup have never really had a good conversation before, and it was nearly impossible now due to the guilt and anger between them. Hiccup was angry that his father completely shut him out after his mother was carried off, not to mention the disowning incident and the strike that came with it, and Stoick was filled with guilt after the Red Death gave him a wake up call. It was guilt and anger that broke some of the barriers between them, but, now they had to face that guilt and anger, and they've been putting it off for months now, which only led to horribly awkward, forced, and short conversations. Hiccup, it seems, had taken to trying to avoid his father in an attempt to get away from these conversations.

But, they needed to talk. They needed to get it all out, or they'd never have a good relationship.

"Well, maybe you could_ try_ talking to him...?" She suggested hesitantly, but Hiccup simply gave her a blank look, a tiny bit of annoyance behind it. Astrid glanced around nervously in the sudden silence before she spoke loudly, attempting to break it by changing the subject.

"So!" She said, "What're we going to do about Gobber?"

Hiccup shook his head before gesturing to his forgotten prosthetic. "You know Gobber made this for me?"

"Yeah," She noted, "He taught you everything you needed to know in order to make Toothless' tail fin, too, right?"

"Not that he knew, for quite a long time," He smirked halfheartedly before his face fell again, "We need to find _some_ way to help him..."

"It'll be okay," She encouraged, "We'll find something for him soon." She gave him a tiny smile before giving him a small peck on the lips, which he returned before letting his head fall against her shoulder, and she rested her head against his, running her fingers through his hair comfortingly. **[1]**

* * *

Astrid motioned for Stormfly to go home once they returned to the village after the sun went down, knowing the Nadder would want to check on her mate and young. Speaking of the babies; they were getting bigger, and Astrid was sure that they would be able to leave to make their own nests somewhere on the island soon, or maybe even find their own human companions.

She watched Hiccup, a bit concerned at how heavily he was limping and leaning against Toothless as they made their way to his house. His leg wasn't bleeding, and she didn't see any blisters, but with the way he was hobbling, she was afraid she might've just missed something in her inspection. Although, he could just be more overworked than normal with all the running, jumping, flipping, and somersaulting he did in the Cove today; stubborn idiot.

Which was why she was relieved when they made it to his front door. She was a bit confused, though, when he used Toothless to limp to the side of the house, but understood when he reached Tonna's pen and opened it. He did tell her that they were starting to let Tonna inside a lot more than they used to, saying she enjoyed being inside with him and Toothless. Besides, Hiccup said, Why should Tonna, a tiny little sheep, have to stay outside if Toothless, a big fire-breathing dragon, was allowed inside?

Toothless crooned when Tonna bleated and nudged him a little before following her, Hiccup, and the dragon inside. Astrid helped Hiccup take a seat on the third to last step on his staircase before removing his prosthetic, rope, and wrappings for him and setting them on their food table. Toothless trilled quietly, nuzzling his snout against Hiccup's neck affectionately, the boy returning the sentiment with a soft head rub, before following Tonna to the end of the main room, where small troughs of fish, water, and cut grass and hay were set up for them.

Astrid weaved her way around them, a wooden cup in her hands, ducking under the sausages and smoked meats tied to the rafters where they stayed safe and continued to get seasoned by cooking smoke until it was time to eat them. She stopped at the barrel they stored their ale in, holding the cup under the nozzle before turning the nob, allowing some ale to be poured in. "Have you salted these yet?" Astrid asked absentmindedly, gesturing to the smoked meats as best as she could.

"Not yet," Hiccup answered, leaning back against the steps, his eyes closed and his tone tired, "We usually don't do that until it's time to cook and eat them."

"Mm," Astrid mumbled, holding the cup of ale close and weaving around the feeding animals again, "I could stay over and make some stew with the smoked beef if you want." Normally, it was the wife or mother that did the house chores, including the cooking; but, with Valka gone, Stoick and Hiccup had to do the chores themselves, and they relied on Snotlout's mother, Hiccup's aunt Ingrid, for the sewing and mending of their clothes. The two normally ate at the Great Hall, their cooking mediocre at best, but, sometimes, they managed to make their own meals with their smoked meats. But, after that Snoggletog disaster and her now infamous yaknog, her mother had decided to get a lot more strict when it came to her cooking lessons, and, now, Astrid was able to make very decent meals without having to worry about giving anyone food poisoning; she wouldn't mind making Stoick and Hiccup a nice home-cooked meal, something they had probably not had since Valka's disappearance.

She handed Hiccup his cup of ale and took a seat beside him as he took a sip. "I wouldn't mind that," He mumbled into his drink, and she gave a small smile before leaning her head on his shoulder.

The two started, however, quickly separating when the front door suddenly slammed open, and Stoick walked in, looking completely exhausted, grumbling and groaning as he took his seat by the hearth.

There was an awkward silence, and Astrid glanced between father and son nervously as Hiccup continued to silently sip his ale, and as Stoick silently rubbed his temples.

"So!" She burst out, making Hiccup start lightly at the sudden shout beside him, "Tough day of chiefing, Stoick?" Hiccup sent her a look, and she sent him one back, jerking her head between him and Stoick, and he quickly shook his head.

"I was all over the island," Stoick groaned, "I married the Svenson girl to the Odegard boy at dawn," which would explain the footrace Astrid witnessed on her morning flight with Stormfly; that would also explain why Elder Gothi was very late to tell Stoick that Hiccup didn't show up for therapy, "Then went to the fields where some kids were tippin' over some yaks," the twins; _again_, "Then went back to the newlyweds to settle a domestic dispute." **[2]**

Astrid furrowed her brows a little, confused; Viking weddings typically lasted a week... did that mean they were fighting during the _ceremony?_ Gods, did they even get to the bridal ale?

Astrid couldn't help but pray for Hiccup's sanity when he finally became chief... though, by the looks of things, he didn't even want to be chief...

"I thought Viking weddings were a bit abysmal if they lasted less than a week," Hiccup smirked dryly, taking another sip of ale, and Astrid stood, deciding to get Stoick a cup as well.

"Well, it was a quiet affair," Stoick sighed, "Until now..." Which would also explain why no one else knew about the wedding until the footrace this morning.

Astrid handed Stoick his ale, which he gratefully took, and Hiccup whistled for Toothless, who took one glance at him before lighting the hearth fire. Stoick stared at the fire for a moment before groaning again, rubbing his temples. "Sometimes I wish there were two of me..."

Hiccup's eyes suddenly lit up, and he sat up as straight as he could without his leg. "Dad, there _are_ two of you!"

"Is that another crack about my weight?" Stoick snapped, smacking his ale on the table.

"No, I mean Gobber," Hiccup said, his tone lightly irked, "He can be the other you."

"Gobber?" Stoick frowned, "He's way too busy making all those dragon killing," he stopped when Hiccup made a face, "Well, used to be, until you," he stopped again when Hiccup's cynical glare deepened, "Which is great! Except for Gobber..."

"Exactly my point," Hiccup said as Astrid re-took her seat next to him, her eyes lighting up when she caught onto Hiccup's plan; Gobber acted as Stoick's adviser at the Thing, so she saw no reason for him to not be able to help out with chiefly duties. **[3]**

"You know, that's actually not such a bad idea," Stoick said as he stood, heading toward the other end of the main room where his bedding was kept, "I could use a right hand."

"Which works out great, cuz that's kind of the only one he has," Hiccup grinned lightly to Astrid, and she snickered a little before standing, heading over to the smoked meats to get started on her stew.

* * *

"Here you go, Dad," Hiccup mumbled the next night, wincing when Stoick snatched the cup of mead from him before taking a big gulp. Astrid winced as well, but kept her eyes on the fish she was salting. Hiccup had scaled it for her when he saw her having trouble with it, taking chunks away instead of just the scales; he also had to help her remove the head. She had decided to stay over to cook again when Hiccup told her that her stew was very good, wanting to keep giving him and Stoick the home-cooking they had been deprived of for such a long time.

"Wow, two block headache..." Hiccup muttered when he saw Stoick hold up two ice blocks from their cold house to his aching head before trying to diffuse the situation, "But, I mean, it was only Gobber's first day. I'm sure it'll be better tomorrow."

"Oh, it'll be fine for me," Stoick grumbled, taking another sip of mead, "Because it won't involve Gobber."

"What'd you mean?" Astrid stuttered, glancing up at him as she placed the now seasoned fish in the cooking pan that was hanging over the hearth, hearing it sizzle a little as it began to cook.

"I tried to fit a square peg in a round hole, and its dragon sneezed and sunk a ship, and named a baby girl Magnus," Stoick grunted, "Now, I'm not sayin' she didn't look like a Magnus, but you try tellin' that to her parents!" **[4]**

"I can't believe you let 'em go!" Hiccup snapped, and Astrid winced again, glancing between him and Stoick nervously; they still haven't let anything out, and the tension had been getting worse and worse lately, "We need to _help_ him!"

Stoick gave him a halfhearted glare. "_We_ don't have to do anything. _You_, on the other hand, are going to have a very busy day finding a job for Gobber tomorrow."

Hiccup watched his father walk toward his bedding with a glare before sighing irritably, and Astrid pursed her lips nervously, patting his arm lightly in an attempt to calm him.

* * *

"You're bringing Gobber... _here?_" Fishlegs questioned incredulously the following morning. Everyone and their dragons were gathered at the Academy for the third official time, hoping to finally get started on some actual training. Hiccup had decided to bring Gobber to... give him something to do; he really had no other alternative for the man.

"He's gonna be great," Astrid smiled nervously, "I mean, nobody knows dragons like him. He's spent a lifetime... studying them. If we can tap into that, we'll all be better dragon trainers."

Suddenly, the Academy gate burst open, and Gobber and Grump hobbled in, and cart of weapons tied to Grump so the dragon could pull it inside. "I'm back!" Gobber announced as he entered, "Did ya miss me?" The dragons instantly sat up straighter, releasing alarmed sounds.

"First of all, welcome," Hiccup greeted calmly, "Second of all, why did you bring your...?"

"Killing things?" Gobber finished for him, grabbing a large axe out of the cart, and Hiccup instantly backed away before he ended up losing anymore limbs - one was enough, thank you.

"I thought we could teach them some battle skills," Gobber said cheerfully, "By threatening to kill them." Well, learning battle tactics wasn't a bad idea, but, the killing thing...

"That's how my daddy taught me to swim," Gobber continued before he swung the axe a little, "School's in session!"

Meatlug, BarfBelch, and Hookfang, the dragons who had previously been a part of the Kill Ring, widened their eyes before quickly scrambling through the open door and taking off.

Hiccup and Astrid quickly ducked as the dragon flew past them before exciting the arena, and the twins and Snotlout quickly sprinted after them, shouting for their dragons.

"Eh, I didn't like school, either," Gobber shrugged, and Hiccup and Astrid shot him a look.

* * *

A few hours later, Astrid sat next to Hiccup on the arena floor, watching over his shoulder as he made updates to the Night Fury section in the Book of Dragons while Toothless and Stormfly purred happily beside them. Gobber had left with Grump after the dragons had scarpered off, and Astrid and Hiccup hadn't seen Snotlout or the twins since.

At least, not until they flew inside and landed at once, and Astrid winced at how tired they looked.

"What's wrong with you guys?" She asked as she stood, helping Hiccup up as well.

"We've been riding dragons for four hours," Snotlout groaned, using his hands to push his lower back in place, which cracked loudly, "It took us forever to chase them down after Gobber scared them away."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that," Hiccup said as Toothless and Stormfly walked over to stand by their respective riders, "I don't know what to do with him."

His musings were interrupted by a grunt, and everyone glanced over to see Ruffnut give Tuffnut a good kick in the rear, the girl twin looking quite amused.

"Do you two always have to fight?" Astrid huffed.

"It's okay," Tuffnut said, "I asked her to do that. Just trying to get the feeling back."

"Good for him," Ruffnut smirked as she gave another kick, "Fun for me."

"Huh," Hiccup mumbled, "I've flown on Toothless for hours and I've never had that problem."

"You have a saddle," Snotlout grunted, kicking his leg out, causing another crack to resound.

"Hey," Hiccup grinned, "Saddles!"

* * *

The next afternoon, after the Academy had been made a mess of with Gobber's saddle ideas, Hiccup leaned against Toothless, his prosthetic removed, rubbing at the aching stump and wincing, and Astrid tried to sweep away the soot that was piled around the arena floor.

Gobber's ideas had been okay; they would've worked had they been lighter and what they actually needed. The horn on Stormfly's saddle could've been used for a signaler had it not been so big and loud, scaring Stormfly into pinning Snotlout to the wall with her tail spikes. The catapults could've been useful had they not been too short, smacking BarfBelch right in the back of the heads, scaring the Hel out of Ruffnut. The flamethrower might've been useful for the dragons once they ran out of shots, but it didn't shoot far enough for that. She wasn't too sure about what Fishlegs' saddle could've done, especially considering it was much too heavy for Meatlug to even lift.

Poor Gobber was too used to the Viking way, and, now that everything has changed, he wasn't sure what to do anymore.

And poor Hiccup was so stressed out from trying to train on that leg, the tension between him and his father, and trying to keep his mentor, his second father, happy.

And, she was worried for Hookfang, too, and so was Snotlout by the looks of things. When the boy had placed the saddle on the Nightmare, the dragon had suddenly roared, his eyes distressed, and flung the saddle off of him. Snotlout had asked what was wrong, his voice very concerned, but Hookfang simply grunted and turned away from him, frustrating the boy. She was afraid Hookfang was getting sick or was in pain or something; sure, he was aggressive, but he normally didn't act like that.

She glanced up at the sound of footsteps, watching as Stoick walked in, glancing around in disbelief.

"What in Odin's name happened here?" He exclaimed, "It looked better when we were killing dragons!"

"Yeah, well, we sort of got Gobbered," Hiccup muttered, replacing his prosthetic before using Toothless as a prop to stand.

"Well, you know Gobber," Stoick shrugged, "He means well; he just doesn't always do well."

"You think _I_ don't know that?" Hiccup grumbled as he regained his balance, "That's what I was trying to tell you with the let-Gobber-help-you-chief thing."

Stoick shot him a look at his attitude, but simply continued the conversation. "So, what're you gonna do about it?"

"I'm gonna clean up his messes and re-do his work," Hiccup muttered.

"Look, Hiccup, I know Gobber's like family to us-"

"Yeah!" Hiccup interrupted, "That's why I can't say anything to him!"

"No, lad, that's why you _have_ to," Stoick said, and Hiccup stared at him with a stunned expression, "It's not fair to you and it's not fair to Gobber."

"I know it's not, but why do _I_ have to say something to him?" Hiccup argued, "_You_ didn't! You just past him off to _me!_"

"That's what a chief does," Stoick replied, "He delegates."

Hiccup glared. "So, a chief can hide behind his _delegation_ instead of facing things head on?"

"Hiccup," Stoick tried, but Hiccup shook his head, attempting to limp off. He reached a good distance before Astrid stopped him, and she gave him a meaningful look.

"Hiccup," She said quietly so Stoick wouldn't hear, "You two _need_ to talk."

"I don't_ want_ to talk," Hiccup muttered, trying to shake her off, "I just want to go home, get off this leg, and go to bed."

"No, Hiccup," She protested, "You can't keep it in forever; it'll just break you. Both of you."

Hiccup sighed through his nose, pursing his lips. "I'm going to go home with Stormfly," She said, "And you two are going to talk." She whistled, and Stormfly immediately followed her out of the arena.

Stoick waited until their footsteps could no longer be heard before speaking. "Is this anger even about Gobber?" He asked quietly.

"No," Hiccup mumbled, facing him, keeping his eyes lowered, "It's about everything. It's about being ignored. It's about being unnoticed. It's about being _delegated_ onto Gobber when I was a nuisance. It's about being disowned. It's about being hit. It's about me having to lose a _leg_ just get to my father's attention."

"Ah, Hiccup," Stoick sighed helplessly, running a hand over his face, "I don't know what I can say to you. I was wrong, and I know it. I should've been there, and I wasn't. I was blinded by how you were so much like your mother; it was hard for me."

"It was hard for you?" Hiccup breathed out, an Stoick knew he said the wrong thing.

"Hiccup-"

"No, you know what?" Hiccup snapped, "I'm sorry. Okay, I'm sorry your wife got carried off by a dragon, I'm sorry your son looks so much like her it hurts, I'm sorry you buried yourself in your work and shut out the thing that reminded you too much of her, I'm sorry your son had to lose a leg for you to finally get a wake up call."

"I am very sorry that, that was so hard for _you_," He finished vehemently. "Did ever take the time to consider that, _maybe,_ I was hurting too?" He continued, "Cuz I don't think you did. Every time I tried to get your attention, you brushed me off, and, when you got fed up, you pushed me onto Gobber."

Stoick released a shaky sigh, his eyes burning, and he noticed Hiccup's face getting a bit pink, his eyes glassy. "I wanted so badly to be the Viking you wanted me to be," Hiccup continued, "I made that axe, and I trained and trained and _trained_ until my hands were _covered_ in scars," he held up his hands to prove his point, showing off the many pale scars webbing across his hands and palms, "And you _still_ didn't notice," He finished fiercely.

"Hiccup," Stoick said emotionally, placing his hands on Hiccup's shoulders, holding the boy still when he tried to shake him off, "I'm sorry. I was wrong to do that to you, I should _never_ have done that to you. If Valka were here, she'd club me on the head, I can tell you that much."

Hiccup snorted halfheartedly, his brows furrowed, swallowing back the tears that had yet to fall. "I know you must've been hurting, too, and that I was no help," he brushed a thumb over Hiccup's cheek, making the boy look up at him, "You know, I didn't want to admit it, but you scared me. In the arena, when Toothless showed up, you tried to protect him; you said we were only making things worse. Your mother said the same thing the night she was carried off; she kept protecting the dragons, and I was afraid that the same thing would've happened to you."

"And then the Red Death appeared," Stoick continued, "And I could only watch as you were crushed by its tail and thrown into the fire. And when we found Toothless, you weren't there; his saddle was burned away and empty, and I was so scared that I lost my boy. And it would've been all my fault; because I didn't want to hear what you and Astrid had to say."

Hiccup remained quiet, his breath calming, and Stoick released another sigh. "I'm so sorry, Hiccup. Can you ever forgive me? I don't know what I was thinkin', ignoring you like that, sayin' things like that..."

"All you've wanted from me was to be the son you wanted, not who I was because I was too much like _her,_" Hiccup started quietly, and Stoick closed his eyes at the cold tone, waiting for the rejection, "You've yelled at me at home, in front of the entire village, you never listened to anything I had to say, and then you did the same thing to Astrid. When the village turned their backs on us, calling us traitors, I needed _you,_ but you weren't _there._"

Stoick couldn't respond, knowing Hiccup was in the right.

"But you're still my dad," Hiccup said softly, "And I know, some of those things, you only did for my sake. And I know you're trying now, so thank you for apologizing, and I'm sorry, too."

"Thank you, son," Stoick replied, his voice heavy with emotion, and the two shared a comfortable silence for a moment before Stoick allowed Hiccup to use him as a prop as they walked and limped toward the Academy gates, Toothless following close behind.

"I'll talk to Gobber," Hiccup mumbled, "I'll see if I can find him a job that suits the old Viking fallback."

"Good," Stoick mumbled before glancing over at the sound of a snore, catching sight of a snoozing Snotlout, hanging on the wall with Stormfly's tail spikes. He narrowed his eyes, muttering, "What about him?"

"He's fine," Hiccup said flippantly, "He's goin' for a record. Enough said."

Stoick snorted, giving his nephew one final look before leading Hiccup out of the arena.

* * *

"Oh, man, that was terrible," Hiccup groaned as he and Toothless hobbled over to an awaiting Astrid and Stormfly, leaving the forge and an upset Gobber behind.

"It'll be okay," Astrid tried, "Once it all wears off, I'm sure he'll understand why you did it."

"Whatever," Hiccup grunted, "I'm not sure what was worse; the talk with my dad or _that._"

Suddenly, screams and shouts were heard from the plaza, and they looked over in time to see a group of fleeing Vikings and a large blast of fire illuminate the area in the darkness of the night.

Astrid groaned. "I think we're about to find something that tops both."

The roars of a dragon could be heard, and they immediately pelted into the plaza, crashing headfirst into a panicking Snotlout.

"Snotlout, what's going on?" Astrid asked.

"I'd never thought I'd say this," Snotlout said, his eyes filled with worry and fear, "But, Hiccup, Astrid... HELP!"

Astrid glanced over to where he gestured, her eyes widening at the sight of a rampaging Hookfang. She's never seen him like this before, not even when he lost his temper during her Final Exam and nearly roasted Hiccup.

"Everyone, back away!" Stoick shouted, "The dragon's out of control! It's not safe here!"

"I don't know what happened!" Snotlout shouted as he, Hiccup, and Astrid joined the twins and Fishlegs on the sidelines, "I was just rubbing his head; he usually loves that! But this time he went crazy! My dragon hates me..."

Astrid and Hiccup edged forward a little, watching as Hookfang scratched the side of his head against the ground, moaning and whimpering.

"They _do_ say a pet starts to take on the characteristics of its owner," Fishlegs said, "I think that's what's happening here."

"Hey!" Snotlout grunted indignantly before elbowing him in the gut, making Fishlegs belt forward, holding his stomach.

"Yep," He said hoarsely, "I rest my case."

"When was the last time he ate?" Astrid asked when she and Hiccup stopped next to one of the many feeding baskets kept throughout the village.

"Not for days," Snotlout answered, and Astrid grabbed a fish from the basket, holding it out to Hookfang.

"You hungry, boy?" She said soothingly, and Hookfang seemed to calm slightly, sniffing at the fish, though some growls still echoed through the plaza. She tossed the fish, and Hookfang caught it, but, when he bit down, his eyes widened, and he roared, spitting out the fish. The half-eaten fish landed directly on Stoick's beard, but he didn't react; he simply grabbed the fish and tossed it to the side, only for it to be caught by Toothless.

"We've got to bring this dragon under control," Stoick said, and Astrid nudged Hiccup a little.

"You want to try?" Astrid asked quietly; his interest in dragons had always gone beyond hers, even before they met Toothless and Stormfly, and she knew he would want to learn to tame a wild dragon.

Hiccup edged forward, fiddling on his leg, holding out his arms cautiously. Hookfang breathed heavily through his nose, staring at him, and Hiccup gently placed his hand on the end of his snout. Hookfang seemed to calm slightly, moaning, and Hiccup smiled a little. "There, it's gonna be okay," He said, using his other hand to pat the side of his face.

Hookfang's eyes suddenly widened, and he reared his head back, roaring and flaming up. Hiccup quickly ducked, scrambling back toward the group.

Toothless roared, and Hiccup quickly pushed his snout, not wanting another incident similar to what happened during the Final Exam to reoccur.

"I've seen enough, Astrid," Stoick said, pulling Hiccup back, and the two looked up at him with widened eyes, "I'm sorry. We tried it your way."

* * *

"Okay, c'mon, think," Astrid said in a panicked manner, wanting to calm Hookfang down before Stoick returned with Gobber, "What haven't we tried yet?"

Snotlout turned his head slightly, and his eyes widened. "Snotlout," Astrid said, "You have an idea?"

"Gobber," Snotlout exclaimed, pointing toward the direction he was facing, and the group's eyes widened at the sight of Gobber, weapons in hand and strapped to him, Grump grunting next to him.

"Stand back," Gobber ordered, walking past them, "I came here to do what I do best."

"He's gonna kill my dragon," Snotlout breathed out in horror.

"No, he's not," Astrid said determinedly, glaring at Stoick and Gobber.

"Uh," Tuffnut cut in, "Yeah he is. You don't use that stuff to butter toast."

Ruffnut grunted, thwacking him on the arm, and he released an "Ow!", holding the now sore area before giving Ruffnut a glare.

"Dad, you can't be serious!" Hiccup shouted, "Hookfang is Snotlout's dragon!"

"I'm sorry, Hiccup," Gobber said, Stoick giving the boy an apologetic look, their conversation much too recent to have something like this happen, "But, sometimes you have to fall back on the old ways."

"But he's a good dragon!" Astrid protested.

"He's a good dragon!" Snotlout defended feverishly.

"There's probably just something wrong with him!" Astrid added.

"There's _definitely_ something wrong with him!" Snotlout added desperately, his attention on Gobber as the man began battling with Hookfang.

"We have to try to help him," Hiccup said, "We can't just get rid of him because he's having a bad day! He's not just a pet!"

"He's not a pet!" Snotlout yelled as Gobber seized Hookfang's wings and feet with bolas, "He's a friend!"

Hookfang roared, attempting to shoot at them, but only a few embers came forward. Gobber raised his sword and edged forward, and Hiccup scrambled as fast as he could on his leg, grabbing Gobber's arm, the man raising him up off the ground with his strength.

"I can't let you do this," Hiccup grunted, attempting to pull Gobber's arm down.

Suddenly, Hookfang roared, his open mouth pushing directly in their faces, and Hiccup and Gobber blinked in surprise at what they saw.

"Did you see that?" Gobber asked in astonishment.

"I did," Hiccup said, letting go of Gobber, and the man hooked his sword into his belt, giving Hookfang a determined look.

"Time to put this beast out of its misery," He grunted, running forward and tackling Hookfang, removing the tangled bolas in all the struggling.

"Hiccup, what're you doing?" Astrid whispered loudly, but Hiccup simply held up a hand, silencing the group, and everyone watched in worry as Gobber and Hookfang struggle, Gobber hanging onto the dragon's mouth, before the man was suddenly tossed off.

Hookfang suddenly grunted, leaning back on his hind legs and holding up his winged forelimbs, clutching at his jaw with his claws, blinking in surprised, trilling.

"Ah," Snotlout sighed in relief, "You didn't kill 'em!"

"For a toothache?" Gobber chuckled, holding up a large, rotted tooth with a large cavity in it, "What kind of lunatic are you?"

"So he wasn't angry," Astrid said, "Just in pain."

Hookfang suddenly grunted happily, running over to Snotlout and nuzzling him with purring grumbles, and the boy laughed a little until Hookfang lifted him bodily with his snout. "Stop it, stop it," Snotlout whispered, glancing back at the smirking group, and Hookfang frowned in confusion, setting him back down.

"Heh," Snotlout shrugged nervously as the group began walking off, "I don't know where _that_ came from. Say, Astrid," he continued, leaning against Hookfang in what was supposed to be a casual, attractive manner, "You think you can train that out of him? You know, maybe you could even give me some pointers in one-to-one-"

_THWACK!_

"OW!" Snotlout shouted, clutching his forehead where a large rock had smacked into it, and Hookfang grunted in surprise, nudging him. Astrid blinked in surprise before glancing over at Hiccup, watching as he set Gobber's saddle with the small catapults back into the disposing cart casually, and she chortled a little before walking over to Gobber.

"Thank you, Gobber," She said, "A bad tooth; I can't believe I didn't think of that."

"That's because you're not Gobber," He grinned, setting his weapons back into his cart, "I've forgotten more about dragons that most people will never know."

"Welp," He muttered, pushing at the cart, "Better go put the girls away."

Astrid blinked before she grinned, an idea striking her. "Wait, Gobber," She said, and he turned to face her, "You don't have to."

* * *

Astrid smiled, her head on Hiccup's shoulder, the two sitting on the roof of the forge, listening Gobber sing his happy tunes as he worked on a few dragons' teeth; the forge was still a forge, but now Gobber could make income faster than usual, working as a dentist for dragons.

"He really is the best man for the job," Hiccup mumbled with a small grin as Toothless grunted, nudging at him.

"Of course," Astrid smiled, watching as Gobber worked on Snaptrap below them, "After all, no one knows more about dragons than Gobber."

He snorted, nearly falling over when Toothless nudged him too hard, and she laughed in surprise, quickly tightening her grip on his arm to steady him as Stormfly grunted in annoyance when they pushed into her.

_When the world around you changes, the good men find a way to change with it._

_And Gobber is one of those good men._

_In fact, he's one of the best._

* * *

**Okay, here's a review response I meant to put up last chapter, but ended up forgetting:**

**Grizzly09kilo - Thank you :) That's actually the reason I decided to write this story; the first time I saw a role-reversal, I said, "Oh, this could be interesting," but all they did was switch Astrid and Hiccup's names, and that was totally boring. Plus, my favorite thing about the series, Hiccup and Toothless' friendship, is totally gone; I also feel that Astrid and Stormfly shouldn't be separated, either (I also have a hard time imagining anyone other than Hiccup with the fake leg). And I'm glad you decided to give my story a chance; I kept it out of the summary because I wanted to surprise people when they realized that Astrid shot down Stormfly instead of Toothless :)**

**1) **_Now, you might see this and say, "Oh, her hand's in his hair; cute," but it's actually a huge deal. Hair is a very intimate part of you, and Vikings took that to the extreme. Hair is sacred in their culture, and that's why married women were usually only allowed to wear their hair down in front of their husbands. Braiding or cutting or washing the hair of someone of the opposite gender is an even bigger deal than just running your hands through it; braiding it usually symbolizes your close relationship with that person (Astrid braiding Hiccup's hair in the second movie? Huge ass deal), and letting someone cut your hair was a sign of extreme trust. Washing speaks for itself considering you were normally only allowed in the wash room with your husband._

**3)** _The **Thing** was the governing assembly in Germanic societies and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a **thingstead**. _

**4)**_ Okay, I didn't like how dumbed down Gobber was in this episode, so, some of those accidents during his day of 'chiefing' were caused by Grump in my version._

**2)**_ This one, I saved for last because it's the longest; I am going to walk you through a Viking wedding so you can get any references I make to it, so (be prepared; this is long as hell):_

_Let's use Hiccup and Astrid as an example. __It's time for Hiccup and Astrid to get married. It really doesn't come as a surprise to anyone because they have been courting for five years, which was actually a normal part of the system. Courting typically lasted from six months to two years, so they've been at this for way too long. It was totally normal for a Viking girl to marry a guy she knew and liked. Her opinion mattered far more than we usually think. So, they've been courting for a long time, and it's about time, right?_

_Now, under normal circumstances, Hiccup himself would go to her father to make the initial declaration. But, if Hiccup showed absolutely no initiative, Stoick would probably make the first move, which gets Hiccup in the door. The next step following declaration would be negotiation, but I think it's important that we discuss the protocol of declaration._

_A lot of people don't understand that it was actually considered pretty rude to go straight to the family of the woman in question without consulting her first. This is particularly true if the man were making the declaration himself. If his father were making the declaration, there would be a bit more leeway and understanding, but as long as the groom was making a declaration, he was expected to at least tell the girl a few days beforehand; this expectation existed because she did not always have a formal say in the negotiation or acceptance process, but she **did** have one through her father/brother/uncle/closest male relative/representative. __A woman needed ample warning so she could let her male relative, the one who would be making all negotiations on her behalf, know that she was most certainly interested in marrying said man or if she wanted her male representative to kick him to the curb. On rare occasions, should she not have a male family member (no brothers, father's dead, no uncles or grandparents, etc.), her mother would make these negotiations._

_Some women in sagas did have their own say, but legal records show that this was far from usual. A man could present his suit no more than three times, and it was also fairly common for a suitor to be refused once or twice; this was a tactic used to drive the bride-price higher. If a man were refused a third time, however, it was most likely because the woman was fighting against marrying him and her male relative was listening. The suitor would never be allowed to present his suit again. If the woman changed her mind, her family would then have to go to the man to present their own suit, by which time the man would have probably moved on. _

_In short, if Stoick is making the first move, Astrid isn't consulted until after the fact, and her father will likely refuse the suit to give her time to think it over. If Hiccup is making the first move, he tells Astrid about it probably a couple days in advance._

_Once this is accomplished, Hiccup's declaration is made, but he would have to make all the negotiations himself, and he would be negotiating the bride-price. These negotiations could last from a day to several months, the length of time depending on how many goats, gold pieces, or whatever Astrid's father wanted in return for his daughter, and how long it took for Hiccup and Astrid's father to compromise on the number of those items. Usually, these negotiations would be carried out in the evening, and there would most likely be alcohol involved. Hiccup would not go into these negotiations alone; he would bring trusted friends and people of some power in the community. He's the chief's son, so he honestly has more power than anyone else, except his father; thus, he could bring Stoick if he liked. It's his choice, but he could bring anyone, provided the person was male and an adult. And he **absolutely had** to bring people. Sources indicate that there were never less than six of these witnesses, though there could be more. But these men would go with Hiccup to negotiate the bride-price, which consisted of three parts: the mundr and the morgengifu, which he would pay, and the heimen fylgia, half of which was Astrid's and half of which would serve as her dowry. He didn't really have much say in her half of the heimen fylgia, but the dowry portion was expected to be equal to the mundr. _

_The mundr was quite literally the price Hiccup would pay to Astrid's family. It was **not** an ownership thing. Viking husbands did **not** own their wives like Anglo-Saxon husbands did. The mundr was **not** paid to **buy** Astrid, which is a common misconception, it was paid to cover the cost of losing a working member of the household, and it also served to prove that the man making the offer had enough money to support a large family. Thus, the mundr had to come from a man's personal wealth and property. To understand this, one has to understand how Vikings conceived property; property was anything fully owned and used by a person. The same basic concept is used in modern-day indigenous land right disputes. Basically, the mundr had to come from a man's personal flock of goats or his personal gold pile or his personal stock of yadayada. _

_Crafted items (if the man were a craftsman, which is what Hiccup is) were **not** considered property (meaning Hiccup can't pay the mundr with something made in the forge; sorry to kill any ideas), as he had not made his items to be used by **himself** and they, therefore, were not within his property rights. All crafted items existed as his **conditional** property – he could claim repayment if items were stolen, but they were ultimately not his own as they had been made to be used for others. So, a crafted item in the mundr would not have been included in the actual show of wealth; it was a nice gesture, but it held no property value and was honestly a waste of time for everyone involved. The mundr had to be a **personal** wealth sacrifice. The mundr did not have to be paid until the actual wedding, but there was usually a sort of down payment made by the groom._

_So they agree on Astrid's net worth, and, at the earliest, a few days following the final agreement (about a week, maybe), make the handsal, which was a ceremony observed by the six or more witnesses in which Hiccup would take Astrid's hands in a literal hand clasp and shake…they would literally shake on it, dudes. A handsal was any agreement made with a handshake, but this one was special because the man would actually say a set piece that would seal the engagement. The time between the agreement and the handsal was to allow either party the chance to rethink the decision. Once the handsal was made, there was no going back. The words were:_

_"We declare ourselves witnesses that thou, (insert bride's full name here), bondest me in lawful betrothal, and with taking hold of hands thou promisest me the dowry and engagest to fulfill and observe the whole of the compact between us, which has been notified in the hearing of witnesses without duplicity or cunning, as a real and authorized compact."_

_After this, the marriage went underway. Now, Hiccup is the **chief**'s son, so this would be **lavish**. They'll be importing all sorts of food; citrus fruits from the Mediterranean and Moorish and Berber Africa, spices from as far as India, the best wines, and there would be beef and lamb and all sorts of fowl. This wedding would be huge; typical weddings would last about a week, but this one could last for two. Guests would include the whole village and a ton of important persons from nearby tribes, maybe even the whole archipelago (you know, not counting the islands you're at war with)._

_So, of course they would be separated before the actual ceremony, which would happen on Friday and most likely just after the harvest to make sure that there was a ton of food and ideal travel conditions. _

_Astrid would be with her mother, other women who were married and the vǫlva. ** Not** a gyðja. **Berk does not have a **__**gyðja**_. (Gothi is **not** a goði, as the TV series would have you believe. She is a **vǫlva**. **Stoick**, the chief, is actually the goði; the _gyðja is the female version of that_) 

_They would get rid of the fillet she wears, her kransen, and she would not see it until she had her own daughter and would pass it on. Then she would go to the bath house. Vikings bathed quite frequently; they were actually the Mr. Clean of their time period, but this would be far more ritualistic. How was this ritual different from any other bathing ceremony? No one actually knows; maybe herbs and oils were added to increase fertility, maybe not, but we do know that it symbolized washing away maidenhood. Or, maybe just unmarried life because women who had been previously married went through the same process. _

_During this period, she would also be given the final sex talk (She's already had the sex talk and knows how everything is supposed to go down. She understands the basic process and quite a lot about the activities associated with foreplay; in a Viking village, you're gonna know every single detail about sex, from foreplay to anal work, by the time you're fourteen), when the women attending her really get into it and tell her all their little secrets for getting their husbands off to the point of intense discomfort. _

_Now, the final part is highly debated; the bride would be dressed. How? Don't know. Post-Christianization records (not post-Christian period; there's a huge difference. Post-Christian period refers to the period after which the Swedes and Danes converted. Post-Christianization refers to the population of the place in question being Christianized) indicate that a bridal crown was worn. There is no evidence supporting this pre-Christianization. _

_Please note that HTTYD does take place in the post-Christian period; they've adopted the architecture of post-Christian settlements, so they may have adopted some traditions as well; it's hard to say. So, would Astrid have worn a bridal crown? Don't know. What would it have looked like? Maybe straw, maybe rope, maybe flowers, maybe all three. I can't tell you. One thing is for sure, though: she would **not** have worn the suspended dress with oval brooches. Why? Because that has been out of style for at least a **century** by the time HTTYD takes place. The Vikings have moved on to other styles. Honestly, at this point in time, it's beneficial to look at English fashion (it was then a Viking-controlled country, just heavily populated by Anglo-Saxons) and Norman fashion (also Viking-controlled). What those cultures wore, everyone else in Western Europe wore. Archaeologists have garments from Viking-age Greenland, and those definitely follow the contemporary trends in England far more than they follow trends in Scandinavia._

_Hiccup would go through a similar process. He would be attended by his father (who happens to be the goði) and other married men. Rather than remove any symbols of unmarried life, though, he would be required to obtain an ancestral sword. Sometimes, he had to break into a grave to get it, sometimes the family just kept it in the home. If the family had it at home (and, considering Berk is too small for burial grounds, that's most likely the case), then the relatives would hide it from him and he'd have to go find it. So they would go crazy hiding it, and Hiccup would be chasing them all over the island. _

_Another of his family members would dress as a ghost, and Hiccup would have to confront him. Or, Hiccup could just go to Stoick and ask for the sword, and Stoick would give it to him, but only after boring him with a recitation of their family history. Then, he would visit the bath house, wash away his bachelor status, and then be sat down and have the Hávamál spelled out for him (it can be found in the Elder Edda, and is basically the authoritative guide to women). He would also be brought through a more detailed version of the sex talk in which all the men would give him extensive descriptions of how they pleasured their wives; again, this would be to the point of intense discomfort, because he as well knows how things are supposed to go and does not need to know exactly what his neighbors do every night down to the most minute detail. Then, he would get dressed and go to the ceremony with the sword, and, maybe, a hammer as a symbol of fertility (Mjolnir is a phallic symbol on this day, not a power symbol)._

_The ceremony was presided over by the chief, called the goði. Stoick (if Stoick were dead, it could be done Hiccup himself, but he could also grab the hofgoði (a priest) or the vǫlva). The first part included the exchange of the mundr and the bride, who was accompanied by her heimen fylgia. Then they somehow got the gods' attention (not sure how); maybe they sacrificed an animal, maybe not. But, if they did, they would sacrifice a goat for Thor, a sow for Freyja, or a horse for Freyr; these were the gods of fertility. But, considering Hiccup is the chief's kid, they might sacrifice all three. Then, the person presiding would dip a bundle of firs into a bowl of something; the words used in all accounts are super vague and can mean anything from wine to mead to blood to water to semen. Don't know; can't tell you. Then, the presiding person would sprinkle the bride and groom (or just the bride, if Hiccup were handling everything); the sprinkling was very ritualistic and performed with specific movement: gently down, and sharply from left to right in the sign of a hammer, like Mjolnir._

_Then Hiccup and Astrid would present their family swords with the wedding rings presented. No one actually knows where the rings were; maybe the pommel, maybe the tip. Astrid would take his sword to hang on to for their own son; Hiccup would take her family's sword as it symbolized that her father was entrusting her protection to his care. And then the rings happened, placed on the third finger of the left hand; not much has changed in that respect._

_Then came the feast, which was preceded by a race. If the groom won, the bride's party would serve the mead. If the bride won, the groom's party would serve the mead._

_In all actuality, though, Hiccup would **have **to win because he would have to prevent Astrid from entering the Hall (this usually happened in the home of the bride or groom, but, considering Hiccup is the chief's son, this wedding is going to be **huge**, so the Great Hall). He would have to take her hand and lead her inside and pray to all the gods she did not trip; tripping is a bad sign. Then Hiccup would have to drive his sword into one of the supporting beams (some people claim throw, but this is incredibly unlikely; the various terms used can translate to throw, but they more commonly translate as plunge or drive); he would drive it in and pray that it stuck. If it didn't stick, the marriage was probably going to fail. _

_Basically, if anything bad happened, the marriage was going to fail. But, if the gods smiled on the union, nothing bad would happen._

_Next, Astrid would officially assume her duties as a wife and serve Hiccup the bridal ale (which was actually mead; usually). He would, maybe, consecrate the drink to Thor by drawing that hammer symbol over the cup, and then he would definitely toast Odin. Then Hiccup and Astrid would drink together, and they were finally legally married. Some people have proposed that blood from the sacrifice would be mixed into the mead (not a lot; just a few drops), but no one really knows._

_The hammer that Hiccup may or may not have brought to the ceremony would then be laid in Astrid's lap (Stoick could do it, but it would most likely be Hiccup), and, maybe he'd also trace the hammer sign over it; this would be to bless Astrid herself and pray for her own fertility._

_After that, the formalities ended and everyone stuffed their faces and got smashed. Some guests would tell embellished stories about famous people or the groom. Some of these stories were extremely popular and would be recorded, in embellished form, by the Icelandic Vikings; we call them sagas. But, considering the fact that this whole day revolves around Hiccup (chief's son; sorry, Astrid), guess who the main character in the majority of those stories be? That's right; it's Hiccup (they might not even be embellished considering all the crap he went through with the dragons). There would be dancing and games and all sorts of fun times. _

_After that, Hiccup and Astrid would be led to their wedding night with light. What does this mean? I have no idea; maybe it was still daylight, maybe there were torches involved; whatever happened, there was a source of light involved. _

_Astrid would bring her heimen fylgia with her, and she would probably get there before Hiccup did, and she and her party put the bedclothes on the bed (part of her heimen fylgia), and her attendants would dress her in some very special night clothes (which I'm not going to get into as it would take a while; Viking clothing in general takes a while) with the bridal crown and her hair around her face like a veil. Then, Hiccup would be led in. The exact same six or more men who observed the handsal would be in attendance. _

_Now, this is also a common misconception._

_THEY DID NOT WATCH THE CONSUMMATION._

_I cannot exaggerate the amount of people that think public consummation means the witnesses stayed and watched the deed. NO. NO ONE WATCHED. EVER. THAT'S NOT WHAT A PUBLIC CONSUMMATION IS._

_Their purpose would **not** be to ensure that Hiccup and Astrid did the do; their purpose was to ensure that, yes, that was definitely Hiccup and Astrid in the room, then they would observe Hiccup removing the bridal crown, which was symbolic deflowering. After that, everyone would get the hell out and let Hiccup and Astrid do their thing. ALONE. There would be **no** one making sure they knew what to do. They've known what to do since they were fourteen and were fully admitted into society (and I don't just mean actual penetrative sex; they would be aware of all manner of exciting bedtime activities). _

_Their wedding night would be spent in **solitude** and they would most definitely have at least an idea of how things were supposed to go down. _

_As to Astrid's chastity…Yes, she would be expected to remain chaste until her wedding day. It was law. Did women actually obey this law? Um, no, not really. Astrid and Hiccup have been courting for five years; they're freaking twenty years old. Even if she's not a virgin on her wedding night and there wasn't any blood on the sheets in the morning (which was actually only checked on occasion; not every wedding), everyone would know that Hiccup was the one who broke her in. And sense they ended up married anyway, with no illegitimate pregnancies along the way (all of which could have actually been legitimized post-marriage), it would not be that big of an issue for them.**  
**_

_Women and men were not exactly held to the same standard of chastity. The birth control they did have was, while effective by standards of the day, not too effective by today's standards. In fact, to be blunt about it, it downright sucked; did not work too often._

_In the morning, they would be separated again. Hiccup would just get dressed, but Astrid would get dressed and have her hair bound up. Post-Christianization, there would be a head covering involved, but Berkians aren't really Christianized, so her hair would probably be up and uncovered with, **maybe**, a veil, since it is the post-Christian period. _

_In recent years, cultural studies have found veils that date to pre-Christian periods, but these are rare. If Astrid were to wear one, though, it would be small and would be clasped to another fillet; not her maiden fillet, a different one, but her hair would most definitely be visible. This hairstyle (and possible head covering) was a mark of honor; a mark of status. _

_After that, they would meet up in the Great Hall again. Astrid's heimen fylgia was something she had brought with her from home, of course. This is very comparable to the trousseau. It held things she had probably made, clothing, bed clothes, household objects, and whatnot. And it was **hers.** Hiccup would have absolutely **no** rights to it. He could not touch it or use the contents for his own purposes. It would be Astrid's property and would remain so if they were to get divorced; the same goes for the morgengifu (morning-gift; basically, "a thank you for giving me your virginity, it was quite nice"); this would be Hiccup's gift to her, paid before every guest at the wedding in the Great Hall, and it was her property over which she had sole control, even if they were ever to divorce. Considering Hiccup's status, there would be a good deal of wealth involved; like, actual gold among other priceless treasures, anything he would think she might like, and, quite possibly, land. As the chief's son (or the chief), Hiccup literally owns the entirety of Berk (except the plots of land that other families live and farm on), and he can give it to whomever he chooses. _

_Chiefs often gave land to their brides as part of the morning gift; it's also a common misconception that men in general gave land to their brides. But, really, only men of high status actually had land to give. Basically, if Hiccup and Astrid were to ever get a divorce, she would bet set for life; she'd have land and masses of wealth and an achieved status that would entice any man into a second marriage._

_After the gift exchange, the feast and merriment would begin again, and it would last until the 1-2 weeks were up. Then, everyone would finally go home, and Astrid and Hiccup would lock themselves up for four weeks. There's a common belief that they would have mead brought to them every day with food so that they would not run out for those four weeks, but that's not true. Yes, food was brought, but they had a limited supply of mead; if they ran out, it would bode very badly for the marriage._

_After the four weeks of sexy time were over, they would finally emerge from hiding and…go about their daily lives. Astrid now has the new responsibility of managing and maintaining a household, and, when she finally had children, she would have to manage them too. But would she be in the house all day? No. She would be Hiccup's wife, and he's the son of the chief, so that means something; even before he became or becomes chief, she would be invited to counsel meetings and would actively participate in political decisions; after he became chief, the same would happen, and it would be understood that if Hiccup were ever absent or sick, responsibility over Berk would fall to her._

_And that is a complete breakdown of the Viking wedding, exampled through Astrid and Hiccup. I wanted to put this in here because, as a history and culture nut, misconceptions can get quite annoying (not being hostile; they just bug me a little bit)._

_I hope you enjoyed this cultural lesson :)_

**Wow, that was a lot of writing; hope you enjoyed the chapter and the education that came with it :)**


	4. Terrible Twos

**PLEASE READ: Just wanted to point out that I am not here to serve you. Okay, I know I'm late, but what right do you have to PM me, telling me to update, as if I'm obligated to please you? Here's a friendly reminder that fanfiction authors write their stories in their own spare time and you get their writing for free. I am doing this for FUN, for FREE on my OWN TIME. I don't OWE you ANYTHING. Sometimes, my schedule gets the better of me and I get so frazzled that my stress causes writer's block and I may not update for awhile and your little PMs, demanding me to update, do not help with that stress. Sometimes, I attend to my family, I have to go to my doctor, I have work, I have classes, college classes might I add, so you have no idea why I'm not updating; I could have had an emergency, and you're going to DEMAND I update? Are you kidding me? You demanding my updates does not make me want to write more, it makes me want to stop writing, as well as hunt you down and slap the hell out of you. These demands are actually one of the reasons this chapter is as late as it is; I had been working on it, slowly and gradually, due to both the writer's block and the fact that I have two other stories I'm writing. ****Sometimes, I might not update for a while, and you're just going to have to deal with that. Too bad, so sad. Don't ever PM me, telling me to update EVER again, or you're blocked. End of story.**

**And I'm sorry if that sounds rude, but you had it coming with those demanding PMs; I had about ten of them. As for the people who are actually being encouraging, saying how they can't wait for another update, and saying how much you love my story, thank you; your reviews are very nice and encouraging and they really boost my confidence in my writing skills, and I very much appreciate it.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything but the slightly changed plotline.**

**Episode Narrator: Hiccup**

* * *

_When you're riding a dragon, communication is key. _

_You almost have to read each other's minds._

_Or else..._

Being the "Dragon Rider" and the combat expert, Hiccup was obviously the one chosen to teach the lessons that involved dragon riding, evasive skills, and weapon and bare-handed combat. The Academy class was currently riding their respective dragons through the maze of trees in one of the island's forested areas, learning lower-leveled evasive maneuvers. They were all doing rather well.

Except for Snotlout.

"Hey, what're you doing?" Snotlout shouted as Hookfang jerked him around, flying off coarse toward a thick maze of trees. He let out a scream that turned into a loud grunt when Hookfang let him smack into tree branch after tree branch.

"Are you trying to kill me?" He yelled in irritation, and Hookfang let out an annoyed roar. "We gotta go back," Snotlout continued, "I think you missed a branch!"

Hookfang snorted before flying through another maze, giving Snotlout an amused stare and a chuckle at the dazed look on his rider's face, as well as the leaves and branches hanging on to him haphazardly.

"Got it..." Snotlout muttered, annoyed.

_And you have to have an open mind._

_Because, sometimes, your dragon knows better than you._

Astrid directed Stormfly to follow Hiccup and Toothless as closely as possible, not wanting to get off coarse and end up like Snotlout. Toothless and Hiccup suddenly jerked to the right, and Astrid gave them a look of surprise before looking forward at the sound of Stormfly's squawk. Her eyes widened at the sight of trees piled next to each other due to a pair of them falling over, leaving a small space between them.

"Stormfly, up!" Astrid ordered, but Stormfly snorted and ducked down, the momentum causing Astrid to lose her grip on the saddle handle and fly upward with a scream of surprise. Stormfly flew under the tree pile and while Astrid flew above it, landing on her dragon once she came out from the other side.

"Okay," Astrid breathed out, her eyes wide, "Down... I almost died..."

"_Almost_ died?" Snotlout snorted when he and Hookfang caught up with her as he began pulling the leaves and twigs off, "I _would've_ died."

Astrid pressed her lips together, giving him a blank stare. "That's a good look for you."

He immediately stuck the removed twig back into his nose, giving her a grin, and she rolled her eyes, gently digging her heels into Stormfly's hide in a silent order to go faster, leaving Snotlout behind.

Hiccup glanced behind him, catching sight of the twins and BarfBelch calmly following behind him. "Has anyone seen Fishlegs?" He asked.

Ruffnut gave him an amused grin. "I saw him _yesterday,_" She said, her tone sarcastic, her amusement heightening at the annoyed stare Hiccup gave her, "Does that count?"

Hiccup grunted, rolling his eyes, and silently directed Toothless upward in order to get a better look. Catching sight of Meatlug snorting in irritation as she tried to wriggle her way out of a tree, he and Toothless glanced ahead of her, landing next to a tree Fishlegs was hanging from rather indignantly.

"Fishlegs," Hiccup said as Toothless landed, dismounting the dragon, "Are you okay? What happened?"

"Oh, I'm fine," Fishlegs said, trying to seem nonchalant and failing miserably, "Just... hanging out. Not like I crashed or anything... Okay, I crashed..."

Hiccup rolled his eyes before hopping up to take a hold of him and pulling, struggling with his prosthetic. There was a loud tearing sound, and Hiccup curled his lip, glancing at the pants in his hand, "Oops..."

"And... there goes my dignity..." Fishlegs mumbled, and Hiccup rolled his eyes. Honestly, in a village like theirs, they nearly had zero privacy; they had to get numbed to crap like this sooner or later, but Fishlegs was too easily embarrassed for such a thing it seems.

Sighing in annoyance, Hiccup took a hold of Fishlegs' foot and pulled, grunting in exertion before his hands slipped and he fell back against Toothless. Grunting, Hiccup looked at Toothless, and the two shared a grin before looking back at Fishlegs. "Okay, Fishlegs," He said, "I know how to get you down, but you can't move at all."

"Okay..." Fishlegs said slowly, "Why? What're you gonna do?"

"Careful, Tooth," Hiccup smirked, "He's not wearing any pants."

"Wait, what does my lack of pants have to do with-"

Hiccup ignored him, waving a hand down in a silent order for Toothless to shoot, and the dragon released a weak plasma blast; it hit the tree directly under Fishlegs, the force of the blast sending the boy into the air and out of the tree. Toothless shot forward, letting Fishlegs land on his back, and he gave the shocked looking boy a toothy grin.

"Now," Hiccup said, tossing him his pants, "What about Meat-"

_CRASH!_

Hiccup glanced at Meatlug, the dragon covered in broken trees, looking a bit dazed. Hiccup raised both of his brows in surprise, and Fishlegs, now in pants, walked over to Meatlug, placing a comforting hand on her head. "Can you not tell anyone that Meatlug broke the trees?" He said before lowering his voice in a whisper, "She's sensitive about her weight."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "How did this happen?"

"I don't know," Fishlegs said, "I was just flying around, taking notes on the flora and the fauna," he pressed his fingers together in embarrassment when Hiccup raised a brow, "Simple guy stuff... and then something weird jumped out of the bushes. It was like a... a-a flaming squirrel."

Hiccup gave him a blank stare. "A flaming squirrel."

"Or a chipmunk."

Hiccup didn't even blink, making Fishlegs a bit nervous.

"Or some other flammable rodent... I don't know, Hiccup," Fishlegs snapped under the other boy's gaze, "It scared us. Isn't that enough for you?"

Hiccup raised another brow, watching Fishlegs hop onto Meatlug and take off. He rolled his eyes, hopping onto Toothless.

"Honestly," He mumbled as Toothless tensed, getting ready to take off, "Like there's any such thing as a- _flaming squirrel!_" He shouted in surprise when something covered in flames shot by him, causing Toothless to freeze, making Hiccup fly off of him and onto the ground, not getting the chance to hook up his riding harness.

Hiccup shifted into a kneeling position, he and Toothless staring over the log that the creature had passed by. "You saw that, right?" He mumbled, and Toothless grunted.

Hiccup hopped over the log, gazing under the small rock enclosure the tiny dragon was hiding under. It was small, a bit bigger than a Terror, with large horns and wings, and it shifted around nervously, keeping its gaze on him.

"Hey," He muttered soothingly, holding a hand out. The dragon shifted, uncomfortable, before snapping at him, and he quickly pulled his hand back. "Hey, now," He muttered before glancing at Toothless, "I've never seen anything like him."

Toothless sniffed at the small dragon before tensing and shifting backward. He growled a little before roaring irritably and stomping his feet. Hiccup raised a brow, "Okay, you're not helping."

He glanced back at the frightened dragon, "I think we might've discovered a new species."

Toothless grunted, shoving his head against Hiccup's side in an attempt to get him to move, and Hiccup released a grunt of his own, shoving Toothless back with his hand. "What's wrong with you?"

Toothless grunted again, in annoyance, when Hiccup knelt down in front of the dragon, slowly holding out a hand. The smaller dragon grumbled, staring up at him, and Hiccup gave it an encouraging nod when it sniffed at his hand. It came out a bit further, and Toothless gave another irritable roar. "Toothless," Hiccup admonished gently, and the smaller dragon released a yelp at the sound of the roar before hopping into the protection of Hiccup's arm.

"Alright, c'mon," Hiccup said, glancing at Toothless, "Play nice." There was a slicing sound, and Hiccup released a pained shout, quickly pulling the dragon away from him.

"Okay," Hiccup mumbled, glancing at his now torn vest and tunic, and bloody shoulder, "Big claws..."

The small dragon released a happy screech, staring up at him innocently, and Hiccup sighed through his nose in annoyance.

* * *

"This is so exciting," Fishlegs gushed as everyone observed the small dragon, "A whole new species."

"Doesn't look like a flaming squirrel to me," Tuffnut grunted.

Astrid rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to her work. Hiccup's riding vest was removed, and his sleeve was torn off due to the rather large tear the dragon had left on it, making his left arm bare and his shoulder visible so Astrid could patch up the wound the small dragon had inadvertently created; she had already sown it up and was in the process of bandaging it as they stared at the curious creature.

"We have no idea what it's capable of," Fishlegs continued, and Tuffnut kneeled in front of the dragon, his face right next to its, "There's no telling what it might do."

"Flame," Tuffnut ordered, "C'mon. Flame!"

The little dragon snorted before letting out a growl, and it suddenly launched itself at him, clutching Tuffnut's nose in its mouth, and Tuffnut grunted, wincing as he attempted to remove it from himself.

Ruffnut snorted, smirking as she held out her arms, and the dragon released Tuffnut's nose, looking at her curiously. It tilted its head a little before hopping into Ruffnut's arms, fidgeting and glancing around nervously.

"See?" Astrid said as she finished up Hiccup's bandages before walking over to Ruffnut, "He's just really scared; he'll settle down."

"Uh," Fishlegs cut in, "New species, remember? We actually don't know what he'll do."

"Well, _somebody's_ gotta take him home," Hiccup said, wincing as he rubbed his stitched and bandaged shoulder.

Ruffnut immediately shoved the dragon into Astrid's arms, backing away, and the girl glanced around, finding that the others had moved away as well. Astrid sighed irritably, rolling her eyes before looking down at the dragon in her arms.

"Well," She said, "Looks like I'm your somebody."

The dragon simply squeaked at her.

* * *

"No, no, no," Thora said as she stared at the small dragon on her eating table, Astrid smiling up at her nervously, "No. We have enough dragons in this house."

"C'mon, mom," Astrid said, scratching the small dragon, "He's even smaller than the babies; just think of him as... a flaming squirrel."

"Don't want one of those, either," Thora grunted.

Cnut snorted as he dropped a pile of logs on the hearth in the middle of the main room. He glanced over at the Nadders; the main room was big enough for both Stormfly and Snaptrap, plus the babies, to fit in, so the male Nadder usually came inside until it was time for bed, unless he wanted to go out flying. The two adults were currently settled together, their feet tucked under themselves in a bird-like manner, and the three babies surrounded them. The babies were getting much bigger; Astrid was certain she'd have to let them go make their own nests soon.

"Well," Cnut said, gesturing to Snaptrap, "What're you waitin' for?"

Snaptrap snorted before opening his mouth to fire, but he was cut off by a blast from the small dragon, making him jump back in surprise when the hearth caught fire. Stormfly squawked irritably, growling lowly at the dragon next to her rider.

"Well," Cnut chuckled, "Looks like you got torched."

Snaptrap released a growl-like grunt, turning his head away.

"That's his name, by the way," Cnut said, "Torch."

"So he can stay?" Astrid asked, trying her best to ignore the look her mother was giving both her and her father.

"Well, we can't throw him out now," Cnut said, "We just named 'em."

Thora sighed in annoyance, throwing her arms up and rolling her eyes.

* * *

"Okay, here you go," Astrid grunted, struggling with the basket of fish. She really needed to talk to Hiccup about him making some troughs for her like he did for Toothless and Tonna; it seemed much easier than hauling the large basket every night.

She managed to drag the last basket over to Snaptrap before snatching a single fish and dropping it in a small bowl for Torch. She didn't need to worry about getting a basket for the babies, knowing that Stormfly would simply regurgitate food for them.

She walked over to the table, grabbing her cup of water before returning to the dragons, blinking in surprise at the empty baskets. "Wow," She mumbled, "You guys were hungry... I guess..."

Stormfly and Snaptrap snorted irritably at her, and she glanced up at the sound of a screech, catching sight of Torch in the rafters.

* * *

Astrid jumped at the sound of a crash. She and her parents glanced up at the ceiling before she quickly sprinted toward her room, freezing at the sight before her.

She had given Torch a miniature version of Stormfly's rock slab for him to sleep on, but it appears he would much rather have the large one. Torch was currently on Stormfly's bed, cowering away from the larger dragon as she growled heatedly at him, her wings expanded around her young as if she were protecting them; Snaptrap was poking his head through the window, growling as well. Her room appeared to be turned over, probably from a struggle between them, and the dragons looked up at the sound of her footsteps coming to a halt, freezing and going quiet at the sight of her.

Astrid could only purse her lips.

* * *

Hiccup sat up a bit straighter on the stairs, he and Stoick glancing at the front door at the sound of knocking. He reached behind himself, grabbing the prosthetic sitting on the step behind him before throwing it on haphazardly and limping to the door.

When he opened it, he blinked in surprise at the sight of Astrid, holding a small rock slab and a fidgeting little dragon her arms, her expression annoyed.

"Uh..." He mumbled, a little amused, "Trouble?"

Astrid rolled her eyes before walking past him, and he shut the door when she was fully inside, looking back at her, ignoring the way Toothless began to growl irritably at the sight of the smaller dragon. "Stoick," She said, "Can Torch stay here?"

"Whoa," Hiccup cut in, "That sharp-clawed little demon is not staying here."

"Well, he can't stay at my house," Astrid said, "Stormfly and Snaptrap are too protective of the babies; they've been freaking out all night, and they destroyed my room."

A small pause.

"That's kind of funny," Hiccup grinned, and she glared at him.

"It is _not,_" Astrid grumbled, "I'm just lucky my bed was spared; everything else has to be fixed."

"It's a little funny," Hiccup continued, and she shot him another look before looking back at Stoick.

The man sighed through his nose. "Fine," He mumbled, "I don't see the problem."

Astrid grinned at Hiccup triumphantly, shoving Torch and his rock slab into his arms, and Hiccup could only roll his eyes in annoyance.

* * *

"Do you know what's wrong with Toothless?" Astrid asked as she and Hiccup trekked through the village. Their dragons followed them, glaring at the small dragon resting on Astrid's shoulder.

The next morning after Astrid had dropped off Torch, she and Hiccup met with the others to study the small dragon. They found that he was able to eat eels without issues, and that he had a rather unusual flight pattern; they used his flight pattern to name his species Typhoomerang. However, when they were trying to get him to fly through demonstration, Toothless refused, remaining still on his rocky ledge.

"I have no idea," Hiccup muttered once they reached the door to his home, "I mean, it's not like Torch could steal his bed or something; he hangs from the rafters. I'm pretty sure they both ate. They just don't seem to get along."

"Mm," Astrid muttered in agreement as they stepped inside, raising their brows at the sights of their parents. The three adults jumped at the sight of them, staring at them in surprise, as if they had been caught doing something wrong.

"Um..." Astrid mumbled, glancing around suspiciously, "What's going on...?"

"Nothing," Thora said quickly, earning a raised brow from Hiccup, and she cleared her throat, speaking a bit more clearly, "Nothing. We were... just discussing... the trading of some sheep and goats."

Astrid furrowed her brows. "Why?"

"Well," Thora stammered, which was a little alarming; Thora was never nervous, "You know... the winter months are starting to pass, so the harvest days will come about soon. Figured, if we're going to stock up on food, might as well stock up on sheering sheep and goats' milk as well."

Astrid simply blinked at her, and Thora gave her a nervous smile.

"Okay..." Hiccup said slowly after an awkward pause, his eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Well... Astrid and I are gonna go now..."

The two teens and Toothless awkwardly shuffled towards and up the stairs to Hiccup's room, Stormfly staying behind, having already experienced how small Hiccup's room is, avoiding the wide-eyed stare from their parents.

* * *

"Our parents have been acting really weird lately," Astrid muttered as she hovered over Hiccup's shoulder, watching him sketch out Torch for his place in the Book of Dragons.

"I try to just ignore it," Hiccup said, glancing out the window in worry, catching sight of Toothless hunched over on the roof, "It's probably nothing."

Astrid caught the movement of Hiccup's, following them to look at Toothless herself, "And what's happening with Toothless is probably nothing. You normally give him all your attention; he's probably just not used to sharing you."

"Mm," Hiccup mumbled, going back to his drawing. Suddenly, a loud thwack resounded as Toothless suddenly jumped through the window, roaring, causing Astrid and Hiccup to jump back in surprise. Hiccup ended up dropping his charcoal stick, causing the charcoal to shatter as it hit the ground.

"Toothless," Hiccup scolded, bending down to pick up the stick, "Why would you do that?"

Toothless roared again, and Hiccup shot him a worried look, sighing and patting him on the nose in an attempt to calm him down. "Look, I'm going to go get more charcoal, alright? Just settle down; everything's fine."

Toothless grunted, watching him as he and Astrid walked toward the stairs to leave the room.

Torch let out a worried shriek, attempting to follow, but Astrid held out a hand, patting him soothingly. "Hey, calm down. We'll be right back."

"I don't know what's wrong with him," Hiccup mumbled as he scoured through the drawer downstairs, and Astrid glanced around, taking note of their now absent parents and her missing dragon, noting that her parents probably took Stormfly with them, "I feel like there's something wrong. I don't think it's just him not wanting to share; I think it's something more than that."

"Maybe he's paranoid about Torch," Astrid offered as he began tying the new charcoal around the stick, "Maybe he feels like Torch will try to hurt you."

"I doubt it," Hiccup said, "He's never had a problem with me trying to meet wild dragons before, unless he knows they're the type that can't be trained; but, obviously, Torch isn't one of them."

"Well, maybe-"

Astrid was cut off by a loud crash, and she and Hiccup glanced upward, starting at the sight of fire. They quickly sprinted up the stairs, and Astrid stopped in shock, taking in the wrecked room and the fire spreading on the wooden floor. Hiccup pushed past her, grabbing his furs and using them to pat out the fire, coughing a bit as the smoke blew into his face.

"What is going on in here?" Hiccup demanded, turning his attention on both of the dragons. Torch let out a noise before quickly hopping into Astrid's arms, and Toothless growled a little.

"Alright, you both need to calm down," Hiccup ordered, "I don't know what's going on, I don't know what your problems are, and Toothless, I don't know what your issue with Torch is, but you two need- wait, wait, Toothless!" Hiccup shouted when Toothless rushed past him, jumping out of the window, "Toothless!"

Astrid furrowed her brows in concern, taking in Hiccup's worried and hurt face, rubbing his arm a little in an attempt to comfort.

* * *

"It's okay, Hiccup," Astrid tried to comfort him two days later, the tough Viking boy looking rather lonely and out of place in the Academy without Toothless; the behavior had gotten so out of control that Toothless ended up chasing down Torch and dragging Gobber around when the man tried to catch him, and Hiccup had to take him back to the Cove and leave him there in hopes that he would calm down, "He'll snap out of it soon; he just needs some time to himself for a little while."

"But, what if he doesn't snap out of it?" Snotlout said from atop Hookfang, "Then, you won't have a dragon to ride anymore," Hiccup lifted his eyes in annoyance, "And if you don't have a dragon to ride anymore, then you can't be co-head of the Dragon Academy!"

"Yeah," Astrid said, attitude in her tone, looking back at Snotlout, "Then I'll just run the place by myself."

"You guys," The all glanced over at the sound of Tuffnut's voice, watching as the twins and their Zippleback walking into the Academy, "You will not believe what we just saw."

"Excuse me," Snotlout interrupted, "We're having a power struggle."

"We're not having a power struggle," Hiccup said monotonously.

"The whole forest," Tuffnut continued, "Ultimate destruction."

"It was beautiful," Ruffnut smirked, turning her attention to Hiccup, knowing that it was probably a new dragon that they would have to search for, "The whole thing was torched."

Hiccup narrowed his eyes, sharing a look with Astrid, "Torched..."

* * *

"Like we said," Ruffnut said, examining the scorch marks that looked identical to Torch's, only much, much larger, "Ultimate destruction."

"We've seen these before," Astrid muttered when Ruffnut caught her eye.

"But not this big," Snotlout said.

"You know what this means, right?" Fishlegs said, looking around in worry, "Big burn marks-"

"Big Typhoomerang," Hiccup cut him off, gazing somewhere in the distance. The others followed his line of sight, flinching at the enormous looking dragon shrieking and circling the sky.

"He looks really mad," Tuffnut grinned.

"Uh... that's a she," Astrid stammered, "That's Torch's mother."

"Torch is a baby," Hiccup clarified, "That's what Toothless was trying to tell me. I knew something was wrong..."

Fishlegs fearfully glanced down at the stripling dragon in his arms. "Whoever get between that mother and this baby... is gonna get fried!" He quickly past him off to Tuffnut, who jerked back a little before shoving him in Ruffnut's arms, "You take it!" Ruffnut shot him a look before shoving the baby to Snotlout, "I don't want it."

Torch held onto Snotlout's shirt with his claws, the boy keeping his hand up as if he were afraid to touch the dragon, turning to Hiccup. "Just leave it and let's get out of here." He said, shoving the dragon into Hiccup's arms.

Hiccup glanced up, flinching back when he made eye contact with furious orange eyes.

"Uh-oh."

Torch grunted.

Hiccup quickly set on him the ground, waving him off as his mother zeroed in on them. "Now, uh... go home to yer mama," Hiccup said mockingly before twisting around and following the others as they ran toward their dragons.

"You guys go on!" Hiccup said as he ran past them, "I'll lead her back into the forest away from the village!"

"What?" Astrid shrieked, "Hiccup!"

He ignored her, running as best as he could on his bad leg, managing to stay a bit ahead as he weaved through the maze of trees. He glanced back as the sound of a shriek, catching sight of Torch flying right behind him. "Oh, please stop following me."

Catching sight of the Cove, he ignored the throbbing in his leg and sped up his gait. "Toothless!" He shouted, hopping over the ledge of the Cove. Toothless quickly ran forward, catching him on his back. Hiccup twisted around, settling onto the saddle properly, giving Toothless a thankful pat on the neck; the dragon purred a little before letting out a roar and taking to the air, right into the mother's line of sight.

"Thank you, Toothless," Hiccup murmured, and the dragon crooned before sharing a glance with his rider and speedily shifting around to evade the angry mother as she followed after them.

They ended up flying over the ocean, and Hiccup glanced behind him to look at her. "Oh, why won't she stop?"

Hearing a small shriek, Hiccup jumped, startling Toothless a little, and he glanced behind him, catching sight of Torch. "What the- Torch! What're you doing? Go be with your mother!"

Hiccup glanced back at the large dragon a again before patting Toothless a little to get his attention. "Okay, we need to try something else. Let's use her size against her."

Toothless grunted before speeding up a little, instinctively knowing what to do as he followed Hiccup's lead, sharply climbing upward into the air, over a large valley of cliffs and ledges. When he reached the top, he quickly dived, the mother following his movements. When they neared the ground, Toothless quickly unfolded his wings, straightening himself out. The mother, too big to do such a thing on a dime, panicked, flapping her wings haphazardly in an attempt to stop herself, but she merely ended up falling to the ground, sliding forward a little.

Toothless landed in front of her, and Hiccup quickly dismounted him, ignore Toothless' noise of protest and he kneeled next to the large dragon to check on her. Torch let out a worried shriek, following closely behind him.

Hiccup laid a gentle hand on her head, rubbing it soothingly as she grunted, groggily blinking her eyes open. He was the first thing she saw, and she let out a questioning croon as he rubbed the pain in her head away as best as he could. She blinked at him, letting out another croon as he slowly backed away, not wanting to startle her, letting Torch reach her line of sight.

She let out a happy noise at the sight of him, lifting her head to look at him. Hiccup watched as two other babies waddled off of her wings, the two of them the most likely reason she refused to let herself fall on her back or flip over by the momentum she had gained, and the siblings reunited before climbing onto their mother's back.

The mother crooned before looking back at Hiccup, sharing a look with him before she took to the sky, using the signature, boomerang-like move shared by the Typhoomerangs.

"Alright, Toothless," Hiccup grinned, hopping back onto his dragon, "Let's go home."

* * *

Astrid smiled, listening to Gobber play his pipes, her parents converse with Stoick in the background, and Stormfly and Snaptrap play with their babies as she watched Hiccup feed Toothless. The dragon snapped his head into the air, quickly catching the fish, letting out a happy rumbled before nuzzling his head into his rider's arm.

Hiccup's leg was missing, needing to rest it for a bit due to all the running yesterday, which had caused it to swell up a little, one of the reason's Astrid was over; to handle his leg.

"I knew something was off," Hiccup said as he patted Toothless, "But I couldn't think of what. I should've known you were trying to protect me; it's what you do."

Toothless grunted before his eyes suddenly snapped open and rolled back, gagging a bit before letting the back in of a fish land on Hiccup's lap. Astrid curled her lips back in disgust, torn between gagging at the sight of the fish and laughing at the happy, oblivious look Toothless gave Hiccup.

"And then you do that," Hiccup muttered, giving him a pursed smile, making Astrid laugh a little.

_Communication between dragon and rider goes both ways. _

_Not only must the dragon follow the rider's lead, but the rider must listen to the dragon as well._

_Because, sometimes, what the dragon is trying to say is what you really need to hear._

* * *

**Okay, after this chapter, the episodes are going to be way out of order. I just needed to get this chapter out of the way tog get a little foreshadowing done. The next chapter is going to be one of the later episodes, and it's going to established a big side-plot for the story, so stay tuned for that.**

**And, again, please do not PM me, questioning why I haven't updated, demanding me to update, or getting angry that I haven't updated. Like I said, I have a life that I need to attend to, and I'm doing this in my spare time for free; for fun. You getting angry and demanding updates sucks the fun right out of it and makes me not want to write anymore, so just chill out.**


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